M-V*  , 


THE    TRAINING    OF    A    CRAFTSMAN, 


"  Here,  work  enough  to  watch 
The  master  work,  and  catch 

Hints  of  the  proper  craft,  tricks  of  the  tool's  true  play." 

Rabbi  Ben  Ezra. 


«  « 


'Jlic  copyrip^ht  of  Ihr  i/lustratiotis  in  this  hook  arc  s/nVi'/y  irscn'cd 


hv  llifii  lYxpectiTC  owi.rrs. 


:5os 


"  The  noblest  thing  that  is  said  now,  or  shall  be  said  hereafter,  is,  that 
what  is  profitable  is  honourable  and  what  is  hurtful  is  base." 

Plato. 

"  And  only  the  master  shall  praise  us,  and  only  the  master  shall  blame, 
And  no  one  shall  work  for  money,  and  no  one  shall  work  for  fame. 
But  each  for  the  joy  of  the  working,  and  each,  in  his  separate  star. 
Shall  draw  the  Thing  as  he  sees  It  for  the  God  of  Things  as  They  are !  " 

Ri  DVAR])  Kipling. 

"  Wherefore  I  perceive  that  there  is  nothing  better,  than  that  a  man  should 
rejoice  in  his  own  works  ;  for  that  is  his  portion." 

ECCLESIASTF.S. 


C  I  t  t         t   ( 


(  t  *  * 


»    .         .    «    t 


TO    THE     READER. 


HE  following  little  book  is  the  outcome  of  a  series 
of  articles  I  contributed  to  The  Art  Journal  on 
"Art  Crafts  and  Craftsmen."  My  object  then 
was  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  reader,  through  the  medium 
of  illustrations,  the  work  of  some  few  representative  crafts- 
men, with  a  few  personal  notes,  the  result  of  conversations 
with  the  craftsmen  themselves,  and  also  a  general  survey  of 
the  work  being  done  to-day  in  some  of  the  leading  crafts. 

In  the  pages  of  The  Art  Journal  for  the  last  five  years 
were  many  illustrations  bearing  upon  the  subject,  and  I  have 
made  a  selection  of  these  to  add  to  the  others,  because 
illustrations  in  a  work  like  this  are  its  most  valuable  features, 
and  as  these,  with  the  exception  of  the  Nature  Notes  in  the 
first  chapter,  are  taken  from  the  work  of  some  of  our 
leading  craftsmen,  this  book  should,  o;/  that  ground,  have  a 

>H      value,  as   the   student  can    see   at    a  glance  the    trend  of 
o 
,bJO      present-day  craftsmanship  and  be  stimulated  and  helped 

cj       thereby. 

With  a  few  unavoidable  exceptions  only  modern  work  is 

»2  illustrated,  as  that  wrought  by  our  contemporaries  has  an 
S  interest  for  us  which  old  work,  however  excellent,  cannot 
^        have,  not  being  the  outcome  of  the  Time  spirit  {/Zeitgeist). 

• 

P. 

a 
O 


VI  TO   THE  READER. 

Now  that  it  is  realised  that  the  craftsman  can  be  an  artist 
whether  carving  a  pew-end  or  beating  a  finger-plate  just  as 
much  as  if  he  were  engaged  in  painting  a  picture,  the  work 
of  to-day  is  more  virile,  vehement,  and  veracious  than  it  has 
been  any  time  within  this  century,  and  to  detach  it,  therefore, 
from  all  other  work  seemed  to  me  the  best  way  to  give  the 
present  book  value  and  distinction. 

Though  I  address  myself  mainly  to  the  student,  I  venture 
to  hope  that  this  work  may  find  its  way  into  the  hands  of 
some  few  patrons,  for  nothing  is  so  crushing  to  the  earnest 
craftsman  as  to  find  that,  though  he  stand  in  the  market- 
place waiting  to  be  hired,  no  one  comes  by  him  to  engage 
his  services,  and  he  is  forced  in  consequence  to  remain 
dumb  because  no  one  will  enable  him  to  give  his  ego 
utterance.  As  much  responsibility  rests  with  the  patron  as 
the  craftsman  in  the  production  of  good  work,  and  to  see 
that  which  is  not  of  good  report  preferred  is  a  serious 
hindrance  to  progress  in  the  art  crafts.  It  needs  nearly  as 
much  training  to  be  an  intelligent  appreciator  as  it  does  to 
be  a  producer,  though  to  be  as  accomplished  as  the  latter 
requires  a  very  real  and  long  apprenticeship. 

To  the  patron  I  say,  Search  out  for  yourself  a  craftsman 

to  do  the  particular  work  you  require,  and  having  found 

him  trust  him,  and  ask  him  to  give  you  of  his  best;  and  to 

the  craftsman  I  say.  Before  all  else  be  faithful  to  the  best 

traditions  of  your  craft,  and   put  yourself  thoroughly  into 

all  you  do. 

Fred  Miller. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAP.  VAC.V. 

J.  The  Craftsman  and  Nature        .        .        .  x 

II.  Design  and  Craftsmanship  .        .        .        -24 

III.  Metal  Work.     Repousse  and  Fine  Metal- 
Work.    Wrought  Iron     ....  36 

IV.    Jewellery 67 

V.    Enamelling  on  Metal 82 

VI.    Potters  and  Painters 91 

VII.    Glass  Painters 112 

VIII.    Wood  Carvers 131 

IX.     Bookbinders 150 

X.  Women  Workers  in  the  Art  Crafis        .  177 

XI.  Surface  Decoration      .....  192 

XII.    Decoration  in  Relief 206 

XI II.  Wall-Papers  and  Textiles  ....  214 

XIV.  The    Craftsman    up -to -Date    and    his 

Outlook 2^;^ 


LIST    OF    ARTISTS 

WHOSE   DESIGNS    ARE   REPRODUCED   IN   THIS    BOOK. 


The  numbers  given  are  those  tmder  the  Illustrations. 


ASHBEE,  C.   R  ,  30,  44,  49  to  54. 

Aspen,  W.  V.,  154. 

AlJMONIER,  W.,  91,  92,  99. 

Baker,  A.  J.,  is7. 
Bassett,  Miss,  118. 
BfRDSALL,  Mr.,  112. 

BiRKENRUTH,  MiSS,   \y.. 

Birmingham  Guild  of  Handi- 

CR.\FT,  II,   100. 

Bookbinders,  Co-oper.\tive,  103, 

106. 
Browne,  Col.  Jemmitt,  133. 
BuRNE- Jones,  Sir  E.,  78,  134. 

Cattfrson-Smith,  R.,  28. 
Chiswick  School  of  Arts  and 
Crafts,  31. 

CoBDEN-SaUNDERSON,  104  to  III. 

Copkland,  67. 

Crane,  Walter,  A.R.W.S.,  86, 
87,  89,  149. 

Davis,  Louis,  79,  80,  81. 
Daws(jn,  Nelso.v,  24. 


Dean,  W.  C,  71. 

De  Morgan,  58,  59,  61,  62. 

Dent  S^  Co.,  i  17. 

Doulton  &  Co.,  Lambeth,   (>o, 

64,  70. 
Doulton  &  Co.,  Burslem,  68. 

Fazakerlk.y,  115. 
Fisher,  Alex.,  25,26,  43,  55. 
Fletcher,  Edavin,  40. 
Frampton,  G.,  A.R.A.,  18  to  21, 
n^  56,  57,  143  to  147,  161. 

Grimwood,  W.  II.,  93. 
Guthrik,  Messrs  ,77. 
GwATKiN,  Arthur,  160. 

Haite,  G.  C,  R.B..\.,  90,  151. 
IIakdman,  Powell  &  Co.,  38. 
Hems,  H.\rry,  96. 
Hunter,  E.  A.,  148,  150. 
Hussev,  Miss  .\f..  131. 

Jack,  George,  94,  95. 


X 


LIST  OF  ARTISTS. 


Keswick  School  of  Industrial 

Art,  32. 
Knox,  J.  E.,  97. 

Lowndes,  Mary,  124,  125. 

McCoLi.,    Miss,    120,     121,    122, 

■23- 
Marks,  Gilbert,  27. 
Mawsom,  S.  G.,  159. 
Miller,  Fred,  i  to  15,   17,  141. 

Binding    design,    end   papers, 

and  title  page. 
Minton,  65. 
Moore,   Miss  Esther  M.,   127, 

128. 

Nevill,  Miss  Mary,  126. 
OspovAT,  H.,  88. 

PiLKINGON,   72. 

Reeks,  Miss  M.  E.,  130. 
Reynolds, W.  Bainbridge,  36,  37 
RicHTER,  H.  D.,  102. 
Rogers,  Mark,  9*^. 
Roots,  Miss,  69. 


"Roger    de    Coverley,"    113, 

114. 
Ryland,  Henry,  85. 

Shepherd,  P.,  155. 
Silver,  A.,  152. 

Southwold  School  of  Handi- 
craft, lOI. 
.Steele,  Miss  Florence,  129. 
s  i'romquist,  34, 
Sumner,  Heywood,  139. 

TiNWORTH,  Geo.,  R.B.A.,  66. 
Turner,  Thackeray,  63,  73. 

VoYSEY,  C.  F.  A.,  153,  156,  158. 

Wakeford,  a.,  22. 
Waldram,  B.  a.,  119. 
Walker,  Arthur  G.,  29. 
Watson,  J.  D.,  76. 
Watson,  M.,  136. 
Webb,  Stephhn,  97. 
Whall,  C,  75,  82,  83,  84. 
Whistler,  J.  McNeill,  135. 
Whitefriars  Glass  Co.,  74. 
Wilson,  H  ,  35. 


and  others. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  A  CRAFTSMAN. 


CHAPTER    I. 


THE   CRAFTSMAN   AND   NATURE. 


''j^  rS^  HE  idea  that  designing  can  be  taught  as 
a  youth  can  be  turned  out  a  carpenter 
after  so  many  years'  apprenticeship  is 
one  of  those  fallacies  which  die  hard. 
Designing  is  a  purely  mental  process, 
and  may  be  defined  as  imagination 
])laying  over  and  arranging  forms  and 
lines  into  pleasing  combinations,  and  is, 
in  all  essentials,  the  same  quality  that 
gives  us  musicians,  and  painters,  and 
poets,  and  the  last  we  know  are  born,  not  made. 
It  may  be  said  too,  in  passing,  that  Rhythm  in 
music  and  poetry  is  what  distribution  and  balance  arc  in 
design,  but  such  an  inquiry  would  take  us  outside  our 
immediate  subject,  which  is  "The  Training  of  a  Craftsman." 
Design  cannot  be  taught,  though  much  may  be  learned 
from  the  study  of  the  methods  of  those  who  have  worked 
before  us.  A  teacher  may  therefore  perform  some  service 
by   bringing  b'='fore  the   student's  attention  that  which   he 


2  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

considers  of  good   report — a  method  Ruskin  followed  at 
Oxford.     The  drawback  to  this  is   that  the   student  verv 


Fig.  I. 
possibly  does  not  see  the  merit  in   the  particular  example 
you  put  before  him.     Your  critical  faculty  is  sharper  than 
his,  and  it  may  be  some  years  before  the  student  is  capable 


THE    CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE.  3 

of  appreciating  what  begets  your  approbation.  Looking 
back  to  student  days,  I  must  admit  that  I  was  incapable  of 
seeing  the  merit  in  a  good  many  works  which  were  put 
before  me  as  examples  worthy  my  respect  and  veneration, 
and  which  I  have  only  slowly  learned  to  appreciate.      They 


were  dumb  for  many  years,  though  now  tliey  speak.  In 
one's  art  education  one  begins  by  indiscriminately  admiring 
the  rococco,  the  (Lunboyant,  the  bizarre.  Tlie  mesh  ot 
one's  mind  in  time  adj'ists  itself  unlil  it  tlirows  away  thr 
cliaff  and  retains  tlie  grain,  and  the  I)est  art  training  is  the 
one  that  enables  the   student  the  more  quickly  to  rea(  h  this 


4  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

mental  state.  It  is  certain  that  no  student  can  afford  to 
ignore  the  work  of  other  days  and  peoples,  not  for  imitation, 
but  to  widen  his  sympathies  and  to  cultivate  the  critical 
faculty,  which  as  a  student  he  is  probably  wholly  without. 
The  reason  why  you  reject  one  class  of  work  and  accept 
another  can  only  come  with  time.  In  youth  one  admires 
fervently  and  hates  blindly.  One  was  such  a  bundle  of 
prejudices  too  in  those  days,  for  when  one  is  young  one 
cannot  see  the  good  in  everytliing  ;  such  catholicity  is  only 
reached  after  much  mental  warfare  and  the  breaking  down 
of  many  prejudices.  Youth  is  vehement  and  antagonistic 
because  it  is  wildly  enthusiastic.  It  should  be  so.  The 
fever  will  get  out  of  your  bload  quite  quickly  enough  :  love 
and  hate  strongly  until  you  can  do  so  with  judgment  and 
without  bias. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  old  work  has  hitherto  been 
thrust  too  prominently  before  the  student  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  else,  with  the  result  that  he  wearies  of  it,  and  would 
consign  it  to  its  fitting  burial  place,  the  gloomy  recesses  of 
a  museum.  The  same  old  casts  which  for  years  have  hung 
up  in  schools  of  art  have  bred  contempt  because  of  one's 
familiarity  with  them.  The  work  that  is  being  wrought  by 
our  contemporaries  is,  as  it  should  be,  of  a  more  stimulat-ng 
and  vi\id  interest  to  a  student  than  any  eff"orts  of  a  bygone 
age,  and  I  have  therefore  excluded  old  examples  in  this 
work,  save  in  a  few  instances,  so  that  the  reader  may 
learn,  if  he  will,  of  h's  contemporaries  by  seeing  what 
they  are  doing. 

But  whether  the  student  ^tudy  old  woik  or  niodern  he 
must  remember  that  nature  is,  after  all,  the  fountain  head  of 
inspiration  and  the  source  of  all  strength  ;  all  other  teaching 


THE  CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE.  5 

and  training  should  be  considered  at  best  as  second-liaiul 
knowledge.     Just  as  reading  should  not  take  the  place  of 


F'g-  3. 
observation,  so  craftsmen's  work  shouUl  be  considered  as  a 
commentary  on  Nature  ;  and  whatever  else  an  art  teacher 
may  do  for  the  student  he  should  always  lead  him  bm  k  to 


6  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

nature,  though  he  may  assist  him  by  showing  the  student 
how  other  craftsmen  have  utihsed  the  suggestions  and 
hints  received  from  nature.  Nature  is  the  raw  material 
wherewith  you  garme;nt  your  ego,  and  "  old  clothes,"  though 


Fig.  4. 
they  may  serve  as  guides,  are  not  what  you  should  dress 
yourself  in.  The  world  is  wanting  to  see  what  freshness  of 
invention,  what  new  combinations  you  are  waiting  to  give 
it.  It  requires  your  personality  to  be  stamped  vehemently 
on  all  vou  do. 


THE    CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE.  7 

Every  student  has  to  ask  himself  "  How  am  I  going  to 
gain  the  necessary  knowledge,  and  how  use  it  when  it  is 
gained  ?  "  I  can  here  only  speak  from  my  own  experience, 
and  that  I  place  at  the  service  of  my  readers. 

It  is  now  more  than  twelve  years  since  I  wrote  four  of 
the  handbooks  in  Wyman's  technical  series,*  which  were  in 
the  main  illustrated  by  me.  and  those  twelve  years  have 
changed  my  point  of  view  a  good  deal,  and  I  hope  widened 
my  sympathies.     Looking  back  I  can  see,  I  think,  in  what 


tLDEIR 


I  was  deficient  in  those  days,  for  when  I  was  a  pupil,  over 
twenty  years  ago,  the  art  crafts  were  denied  the  position 
now  given  them.  The  individual  was  lost  sight  of  in  the 
"firm,"  and  as  I  \vas  a  "  hand  "  in  a  firm  of  glass  painteis 
I  merely  acquired  a  certain  amount  of  technique  or  h;ind 
skill,  for  we  were  put  to  carry  out  work  originated  by  the 
draughtsman  kept  on  the  i)remiscs  to  do  the  liesigniiii^.  Our 
training  was  merely  a  mechanical  one,  antl  what  efforts  in 
the  direction  of  original  work  I  made  was  in  the  nature  of 

•  Those  on  Interior  Dccoiation,  Glass  I'aintin<;,  Wooii  ('rii\inf;,  and 
Pottery  l^aintin^- 


8  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

copying  or  imitating  the  work  I  was  put  to  trace.  Glass- 
painting  itself  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking  was 
governed  by  precedent.  It  was  purely  a  conventional  art 
following  a  path  in  which  the  same  old  ruts  had  deepened 
year  by  year;  and  the  idea  of  developing  the  indivi- 
duality of  the  craftsmen,  so  that  a  touch  of  originality  was 
seen  in  what  was  produced,  was  an  idea  too  antagonistic 
to  the  established  order  of  things  for  the  '-firm  '"  to  enter- 
tain. The  art  crafts  were  then  carried  on  so  much  as 
trades  that  the  art  was  crushed  out  by  the  combined  weight 
of  the  ledger  and  the  mechanical  routine  of  the  establish- 
ment. 

By  the  light  of  my  experience  I  consider  that  craftsmen 
have  now  a  very  fair  prospect  before  them.  In  the  days  of 
my  apprenticeship  the  work  was  made  so  mechanical  that 
the  "hands"  became  machines,  and  the  main  interest  in 
their  work  turned  upon  Saturday's  wages.  Now,  any  man 
of  ideas  and  personality  has  the  opportunity  of  getting  a 
hearing  and  giving  his  ego  utterance. 

The  trainmg  I  obtained  at  the  West  London  School  of 
Art  was  of  a  very  rule-of-thumb  character — drawing  from 
uninteresting  casts  in  a  heated,  fetid  underground  cellar, 
where  the  tuition,  meagre  as  it  was,  was  of  as  mechanical 
a  character  as  the  work  during  the  day,  and  so  deadening 
was  it  that  alter  awhile  I  dropped  going  to  the  school. 
During  my  pupilage  I  developed  a  certain  amount  of 
technical  facility,  but  I  was  sadly  deficient  in  knowledge  ot 
form.  I  used  to  trace  glass  quarries  from  patterns  supplied 
by  one  of  the  firm  who  was  clever  at  originating  quaint 
birds,  animals,  &c.,  and  combining  them  with  convention- 
alised foliage,  but   over  and  over  again  I  was  called  upon 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE.  9 

to  do  work  greatly  in  advance  of  my  knowledge.  It  was 
like  reciting  in  a  language  one  did  not  understand. 

When  I  gained   more   leisure,  which    was    only  after  I 


Fig.  6. 


started  on  my  own  account  working  for  the  trade,  I  worked 
constantly  from  nature,  making  drawings  of  plants  when  I 
could  get  away  from  London,  or  in  the  Botanic  Gardens,  for 
which  place  I   obtained  a  student's  ticket,  and  of  aniina' 


lO 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


life  in  the  Zoo,  for  which  I  have,  on  and  off,  had  a  student's 
ticket  for  twenty  years.  The  result  of  this  study  of  nature 
upon  me  was  curious.  I  had  while  in  the  glass-painter's 
employ  been  trained  to  see  things  in  a  conventional  way, 
suggested  partly  by  Japanese  and  partly  by  Gothic  work — 
a  blend  which  the  leading  designer  had  discovered  for 
himself  and  employed  with  considerable  effect.  But  the 
study  of  nature  made  me  revolt  against  the  conventions 
I    had  hitherto   accepted    as    the    neressary   conditions    of 

decorative  art,  and 
I  went  to  the  other 
extreme  of  naturalism. 
I  drew  a  plant  as 
faithfully  as  I  could, 
and  to  adapt  it  to 
the  decoration  of  a 
tile,  or  vase,  or  glass 
quarry,  was  to  use 
it  pretty  much  as  1 
sketched  it.  The 
method  of  designing  as  taught  in  schools  of  art  and 
inculcated  in  certain  works  on  plant  form  as  applied  to 
design  got  little  further  than  arranging  plants  on  a  geo- 
metrical basis,  and  this  direction  given  to  one's  studies 
added  to  my  own  tendencies  led  me,  I  consider,  astray  for 
some  years.  There  is  nothing  loses  so  much  time  or  is 
so  disheartening  as  having  to  retrace  one's  steps  owing 
to  being  wrongly  directed,  and  I  am  led  to  make  these 
personal  statements  to  try  and  help  others  by  showing 
them  what  to  avoid. 

At  this  time,  too,  I  worked  for  a  designer  whose  style 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE.  ti 

captivated  me,  and  I  became  a  weak  reflection  of  him  when  I 
attempted  original  work.  It  is  as  natural  as  it  is  common 
that  a  young  man  should  become  enamoured  of  the  work  ot 
a  particular  artist,  and  consciously  or  ui^consciously  copy  it : 
no  harm  follows  this  if  the  tendency  is  kept  in  check  by 
other  influences  at  work,  but  to  become  the  pupil  of  one 
man,  however  clever  he  may  be,  is  harmful.  It  checks 
originality,  the  development  of  the  ego ;  and  the  positive 
good  that  the  study  of  another  man's  work  brings  is  nullified 


Fig.  8. 

by  the  mannerism  one  falls  into.  Were  I  advising  a  pupil 
I  should  recommend  him  to  study  all  classes  of  work  which 
had  a  marked  individuality  and  strongly  imbued  with  the 
artist's  self,  making  notes  of  their  several  characteristics  and 
even  working  on  the  suggestions  received.  Stevenson  tells 
us  that  to  acquire  the  style  which  has  made  him  one  of  the 
forces  in  literature  he  turned  over  in  his  mind  any  sentence 
he  came  across  which  he  considered  excellent,  and  he  even 
tried  to  write  a  sentence  with  the  same  cadence  in  it  or 
turn  of  expression.     This  gave  him  both  facility  and  an 


12  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

ear  for  the  music  of  words — that  haunting  quality  which  his 
choice  of  words  and  phrasing  give  his  best  writings.  The 
designer  can  apply  the  same  method  to  his  work  that 
Stevenson  did  to  his,  but  let  your  models  be  many,  and  so 
far  as  your  self  criticism  allows,  be  certain  that  the  examples 
you  select  to  study  are  possessed  of  lasting  qualities,  and 
have  not  a  merely  meretricious  attraction. 

It  will  be  gathered  that  training  the  student  in  what  is 
termed  a  particular  "  style"  of  design  (Louis  XV.,  for  example) 
is  to  put  him  entirely  on  the  wrong  scent,  or,  to  use  my 
former  simile,  is  teaching  him  to  speak  in  a  language  he 
does  not  understand,  as  a  parrot  is  taught  to  chatter. 
Style  is  individuality,  and  all  training  should  be  m  the 
direction  of  developing  the  ego  ;  but  simple  as  this  reads,  it 
was  many  years  before  such  knowledge  became  part  of  my 
equipment,  and  therefore  of  any  use  to  me.  I  fell  first  of 
all  under  glass-painters'  Gothic ;  then  under  Japanese ; 
after  that  German  Renaissance,  largely  because  my  early 
training  had  not  taught  me  that  individuality  was  what  is 
demanded  of  one,  and  that  these  so-called  styles  are  merely 
the  crystallising  into  rigid  forms  of  the  work  of  some  strong 
personality  which  weak  natures  force  upon  one  as  the 
decalogue  was  upon  the  Jews ;  whereas  every  worker  should 
think  and  act  for  himself,  and  be  taught  that  there  are,  as 
Kipling  says  of  tribal  lays,  nine-and-sixty  ways  of  writing 
them.  Rules  and  canons  of  art  are  at  best  only  aphorisms, 
and  not  dogmas,  which  to  disobey  is  to  be  artistically  lost. 

Nothing  so  corrects  the  tendency  to  become  the  slave  of 
some  man's  work  as  a  study  of  nature.  It  takes  one  back 
to  first  principles,  it  pulls  against  the  bias  another's  person- 
ality exerts  upon  one,  it  refreshes  the  mind  and  keeps  one's 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE. 


'3 


work  vigorous  and  veracious.  Nothing  gives  one  so  much 
facility  as  drawing  plant  foim,  both  in  designing  and  work- 
ing, and  my  impression  is  that  every  craftsman  would 
find  it  pay  him  to  give  a  day  a  week  to  making  studies  for 
certainly  half  the  year.  One  settles  down  to  one's  work, 
gets  busy,  and  then  one  is  tempted  to  work  from  the  same 
old  studies  time  after  time  ;  whereas  if  we  constantly 
made   fresh  studies,  our  minds  would   be   always   on  the 


'  HONtySt'CKLL- 


altrt,  receiving  fresh  hints  and  suggestions  instead  of 
becoming  jaded  and  falling  back  upon  one's  own  or 
anrther's  comentions. 

In  (Irawii  g  plant  foim  my  expeiienre  of  twenty  years  tells 
me  that  the  less  you  know  botanically  about  plants  the 
better.  The  artist  woiks  from  observation  rather  than 
knowledge.  To  paint  a  field  oi  grass  does  not  depend  upon 
a  knowledge  of  what  goes  to  make  the  tout  ensemble,  but  on 
an  eye  trained  to  appreciate  the  subtleties  of  colour  ami  tlic 


M 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


power  of  rendering  surfaces.  I  consider  I  wasted  much 
valuable  time  in  making  sections  of  plants,  drawing  the 
internal  parts  of  flowers,  and  troubling  about  the  physiology 
of  the  herbs  I  studied.  I  am  speaking  here  as  an  artist, 
for,  of  course,  botany  is  an  interesting  study  in  itself,  but 
has  nothing  to  do  with  design,  though  some  designers,  I 


I3^^lToNl^ 


doubt  not,  have  received  suggestions  from  botanical  sections. 
I  made  the  outline  studies  accompanying  these  notes  during 
the  intervals  of  putting  this  chapter  into  shape,  just  to 
show  ray  readers  the  sort  of  nature-notes  I  find  useful,  as 
well  as  to  illustrate  some  of  the  ideas  I  have  put  down 
here,  and  I  made  them  as  they  grew  in  the  garden. 
Tliere    is  a  great  gain   in   this,  for  you   study  the  general 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE. 


growth  of  the  plant  itself,  and  the  most  valuable  suggestions 
come  to  one  of  lines  and  angles  and  curves  by  drawing  from 
the  growing  plant.  If  you  pick  off  a  spray  and  put  it  in  a 
vase  and  draw  it,  you  may  miss   the  very  thing  that  is  of 


Cl/P  »  Saucer. 


AQ 

\alue  as  a  decorative  suggestion.  Besides,  while  making 
your  drawing  you  are  led  to  observe  the  i)lant  much  more 
attentively,  and  your  eye  is  directed  to  its  "points,"  which  is 
not  the  (  asc  if  you  merely  lake  it  in  generally.     In  fact,  you 


1 6  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

never  can  say  you  begin  to  know  a  plant  until  you  have 
drawn  it,  and  you  may  draw  it  many  times  before  the  sug- 
gestion which  is  of  value  comes  to  you.  A  study  you 
make  yourself  is  consequently  of  far  more  value  than  one 
ot  another's,  because  you  dwell  upon  that  in  a  plant  which 
touches  your  bias,  and  your  own  drawing,  therefore,  speaks 
to  you  in  a  way  that  one  obtained  second  hand  never  can. 

The  four  studies  of  thistle,  meadow-sweet,  cow-parsley, 
and  figwort  were  portions  of  the  illustrations  accompanying 
an  article  I  contributed  to  The  Art  Journal  some  years  ago 
on  "  Hedgerow  Decoration."  They  are  literal  transcripts 
of  nature  of  plants  which  it  seems  to  me  to  have  special 
significance  to  a  designer,  and  they  also  emphasise  what  I 
said  just  now  about  drawing  by  observation  instead  of 
botanically. 

Many  books  on  plant  form  have  been  issued,  and  I  do 
not  deny  their  use,  but  the  plant  itself  is  only  a  means  to 
the  end,  and  not  the  end  itself,  and  therefore  nothing 
takes  the  place  of  original  observation.  A  design  is  not 
necessarily  the  conventional  rendering  of  a  particular  plant, 
but  the  ideas  of  line,  mass,  and  distribution  which  the  plant 
suggests. 

The  form  of  leaf  known  as  '•  Acanthus  "  err  ps  up  again 
and  again,  for  craftsmen,  from  Greek  times  until  now,  have 
seen  the  beauty  in  a  long  deeply  serrated  leaf  curving  out- 
wards, and  partially  wrapped  around  the  main  stem,  Init 
instead  of  woiking  on  an  old  suggestion,  wouhl  it  not  l.e 
more  profitable  to  go  out  and  make  a  study  of  the  opium 
j)oppy,  and  try  and  import  a  touch  of  originality  into  the 
design  you  base  upon  it  ? 

The  oriental  poppy,  again,   is  full  of  decorative  hints. 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE.  17 

The  cup-like  form  of  the  leaves  around  the  main  stem   I 


fit  "^"^ 


I'iK'.  12. 

could  conceive  being  a  fruitful  suggestion  to  a  worker  in 

c 


THE    CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE.  19 

metal  or  wrought  iron.     Particular  attention  should  always 


1M-.    14. 

be    paid  to  the  angle  the  leaf  uuikes  with  the  stem.     The 


Aveakness  of  a  design  is 
more  often  manifest  in 
this  than  in  any  other 
thing,  and  the  infinite 
variety  in  nature  in  the 
angle  made  by  the  Jeaf 
with  the  stem  leaves  a 
designer  no  excuse  for 
such  weakness. 

The  study  of  curves  is 
one  that  a  designer  should 
specially  direct  his  atten- 
tion to.  Tendrils,  as  those 
of  the  vine,  afford  a  won- 
derful play  of  line,  and 
might  be  studied  Avith 
advantage.  Their  eccen- 
tricity teaches  one  how 
dependent  on  nature  one 
is,  for,  try  and  invent  an 
eccentric  line,  and  you 
will  be  astonished  at  the 
limited  range  of  your 
fancy.  The  nasturtium, 
again,  is  in  this  respect 
interesting,  and  the  habit 
the  leaves  have  of  curling 
themselves  around  the 
stems  might  be  often 
worked  upon. 

'J'ruth  to  nature  is  not 


l-"ig-  '5- 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  NATURE. 


21 


fidelity  to  the  characteristics  of  a  particular  plant,  but  the 
doing  of  nothing  that  is  contrary  to  the  principles  of  plant 
growth.  A  design  may  be  so  sublimated  as  to  suggest  no 
plant  in  particular,  and  yet  be  perfectly  true  in  the  relation  of 
its  parts  ;  and  this  truthfulness  can  only  come  by  saturating 
yourself  with  knowledge  derived  by  observation. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  write  anything  specially  about  each 
of  these  plant  studies. 
It  is  enough  to  say  that 
I  believe  in  drawing  each 
plant  with  scrupulous 
exactitude  and  just  as  it 
appears,  rather  than  a 
conventional  rendering 
of  it.  More  subtlety  of 
line  and  crispness  of 
touch  is  likely  to  be  seen 
in  work  where  a  reveren- 
tial truthfulness  charac- 
terises the  nature  notes. 
Exercise  your  power  of 
selection  not  only  in  the 
plants  you  study,  but  also 
in  the  portions  sketched,  ^''«-  "' 
and  be  sure  to  endeavour 
to  catch  the  characteristics  of  each  plant.  The  two  studies 
by  Rissho  and  Hokusai  will  direct  the  student's  attention  to 
Japanese  work,  especially  the  masterly  yet  simple  way 
Japanese  artists  draw  from  nature.  No  craftsman  can 
afford  to  neglect  Japanese  art. 

Go  for  at  least  one  thing  in  each  study — the  twist  of  a 


Drawip}^  of  I, ilium  Aiiratuni. 
Bv  Kifii  Rissho. 


22 


IHE    TRAINIXG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


tendril,  the  curve  of  a  stem,  the  growth  of  leaf  from  stem, 
or  whatever  it  may  be  which  strikes  you  as  material  worth 
])reserving  for  future  work  ;  and  it  is  not  sufficient  to 
make  a  batch  of  studies  and  think  you  have  enough  to 
last  you  all  your  days. 


tig-  17  —Great  Atlas  Moth. 
The  ornamental  borders  A  and  R  are  derived  from  the  Aving^-:  of  this  moth. 


Drawing  from  nature  should  be  an  important  part  of 
the  training  of  a  craftsman,  and  he  should  constantly 
study  her,  for  you  never  can  say  you  have  learnt  a  plant. 
Fresh  suggestions  may  come  to  you,  and  that  after  you 
think  you  ha\  e  got  to  know  the  plant  by  heart.     Nothing 


THE   CRAFTSMAy  A. YD   XATURE.  23 

SO  refreshes  the  mind,  and  prevents  that  jaded  mechanical 
look  work  is  apt  to  get  when  one  works  on  year  after 
year  without  seeking  fresh  impulses  from  nature,  as  studying 
nature. 

Plant  form,  though  the  most  important  source  of  inspira- 
tion to  the  craftsman,  is  not  the  only  one.  A  bird's  wing, 
a  feather,  the  marking  on  the  wings  of  a  butterfly,  as  in 
Fig.  17,  may  supply  valuable  hints;  in  fact,  it  is  hard  to  say 
when  the  mind  is  on  the  alert  what  does  not  stimulate  it. 

I  have  avoided  attempting  to  show  how  any  of  the 
plants  I  have  sketched  may  be  adapted,  though  many 
writers  have  done  so,  as  I  hold  that  each  woiker  has  to 
do  this  for  himself  There  is  no  one  way,  and  I  dont 
wish  to  thrust  my  point  of  view  upon  the  student. 


Fig.  1 7A.— Study  of  Lily.     By  Hokusai 


CHAPTER  11. 

DESIGN  AND  CRAFTSMANSHIP. 

HE  two  are  one,  and  should  be  indivisible,  for  no 
craftsman  can  be  full  statured  who  is  not  an 
artist,  and  no  designer  can  succeed  in  applied 
art  who  is  not  something  of  a  craftsman,  and  for  this  reason. 
You  must  know  what  are  the  particular  qualities  to  be 
brought  out  in  each  craft  before  you  can  design  for  it.  We 
will  assume  that  you  are  going  to  use  the  Oriental  poppy  as 
the  motif,  and  it  has  to  be  adapted  to  three  different  purposes 
— a  repousse  cup,  a  painted  tile,  and  a  piece  of  embroidery. 
Now,  it  might  be  imagined  that  to  make  one  design  would 
be  sufhcient,  and  that  it  could  be  used  with  slight  modi- 
fications for  the  three  crafts.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  that  is 
what  would  have  been  done  in  my  apprenticeship  days, 
for  anything  was  good  enough  i]ien  for  decorative  art ; 
but  now  that  the  art  crafts  have  been  recognised  as  taking 
quite  as  high  a  place  in  man's  handiwork  as  any  other 
art  (so-called  fine),  a  more  reasonable  practice  is  followed, 
and  the  student  beating  a  cup  would  seize  upon  certain 
characteristics  of  the  poppy  because  the  beaten  metal  will 
render  some  feature  of  the  poppy  better  than  could  be 
obtained  by  a  painted  tile,  while  the  embroiderer,  again, 
would   develop  some  other  characteristic  of  the   plant  to 


DESIGN  AND   CRAFTSMANSHIP.  25 

suit  the  requirements  of  his  work.  The  first  thing,  there- 
fore, is  to  study  the  requirements  of  your  craft,  so  that  you 
may  develop  them  to  the  utmost,  and  your  design  is 
therefore  conditioned  by  the  necessity  of  bringing  out  the 
qualities  of  the  material  you  work  in. 

Let  us  look  at  the  matter  a  little  closer.  In  repousse 
work  your  effect  is  produced  by  beating  some  parts  of  the 
metal  in  high  relief,  and  throwing  others  back,  and  this 
breaking  up  of  the  surface  to  produce  light  and  shade  is 
the  first  and  chief  point  to  be  aimed  at.  Now,  an  oriental 
poppy  has  a  hairy  surface,  but  this  is  a  peculiarity  which 
the  metal-worker  can  hardly,  if  at  all,  take  into  account, 
because  beaten  metal  would  not  be  helped  by  having  the 
surface  broken  up  minutely  to  give  the  etTect  of  hair :  it  is 
a  feature  of  the  plant  he  can  afford  to  ignore.  But  the  tile 
painter  might  easily  hint  at  the  hairy  surface  if  he  chose  to, 
because  he  is  using  a  much  more  flexible  material  than  the 
metal-worker — one  in  which  greater  delicacy  of  manipula- 
tion is  possible.  The  embroiderer,  again,  has  a  much  less 
flexible  material  to  deal  with  than  the  tile-painter.  To 
obtain  the  effect  of  roundness  or  relief  is  almost  an  impos- 
sibility, or,  at  all  events,  would  be  a  matter  of  excessive 
labour,  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  eff'ect  produced,  and 
further,  embroidery  does  not  depend  for  its  eff'ect  upon  the 
quality  we  find  in  repousse  work,  but  upon  a  pleasing  dis- 
l)osition  of  lines  where  form  is  only  hinted  at  and  not 
simulated. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  I  have  been  assuming  that  one 
man  is  called  upon  to  make  designs  for  three  different 
crafts,  not  necessarily  for  himself  to  carry  out ;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  work  is  split  up  between  two  classes  of  workers, 


26  THE    TKAJXIXG    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

the  design  being  the  work  of  one  and  the  execution  of 
another.  This  is  making  the  worker  a  mere  finger  machine, 
and  the  designer  the  so-called  thinking  machine,  and  is 
just  what  we  want  to  avoid.  The  craftsman  should  be  his 
own  designer  ;  in  fact,  design  should  be  developed  out  of 
finger  dexterity.  To  show  his  skill  as  a  metal-worker,  and 
his  appreciation  of  the  quality  of  the  material  he  works  in, 
should  suggest  the  design.  The  relationship  is  so  iiiiime 
between  the  material  and  the  design  wrought  upon  it  that 
the  two  are,  as  I  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  one, 
and  should  be  indissoluble.  It  is  practically  impossible  to 
make  a  design  on  paper,  say,  for  a  repousse  cup,  which  shall 
bear  any  close  relationship  to  the  cup  when  beaten,  and 
even  a  design  for  embroidery  bears  only  a  slight  affinity  to 
the  same  when  wrought  with  the  needle,  for  a  line  on  paper 
has  none  of  the  value  of  the  same  made  up  of  stitches  on  a 
woven  surface ;  and  unless  this  is  borne  in  mind,  the  appa- 
rent poverty  of  a  working  design  induces  the  designer  to 
endeavour  to  obtain  richness  by  elaborating  the  design  on 
paper,  with  the  result  that,  when  carried  out,  the  work  is 
wanting  in  simplicity,  doesn't  seem  to  fit  the  material  or  the 
material  fit  the  design,  and  this  because  the  design  is  made 
independent  of  the  method  of  reproduction,  instead  of  being 
developed  out  of  it. 

A  student  should  train  himself  as  a  designer  at  the 
same  time  that  he  is  acquiring  the  tcchne  of  his  craft,  and 
there  should  never  be  a  time  when  the  one  is  thought  more 
of  than  the  other,  for  the  reason  I  have  given  that  the  two 
play  into  each  other  and  do  not  exist  separately.  This  is 
no  arbitrary  statement,  for  if  we  consider  the  matter,  the 
tyro  hai;  so  limited  an  amount  of  skill  that  only  a  very  simple 


DESIGX  AA'D   CRAFTSMAXSH/P.  27 

design  can  be  attempted  by  him,  but  as  his  hand  cunning 
increases,  his  desire  for  more  elaborate  work  will  manifest 
itself;  and  though  it  may  take  a  wrong  direction  at  times 
and  lead  him  to  do  what  should  never  be  attempted,  he 
will  by  degrees  learn  the  class  of  effect  his  material  most 
adequately  renders,  and  within  the  conditions  imposed  upon 
him  by  his  cra'"t  work  to  the  best  tnd. 

It  is  some  time  before  the  student  sets  the  full  value 
upon  his  material  and  directs  his  energies  to  developing  its 
particular  qualities.  In  this  connection  I  may  mention  that 
in  my  early  days  as  a  glass  painter  I  was  shown  on  one 
occasion  a  highly  naturalesque  piece  of  glass-painting.  It 
was  a  head  after  Guido,  and  looked  not  unlike  an  indiffer- 
ent oleograph.  I  had  hitherto  only  seen  glass  painted  in 
the  severe  manner  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  this 
rococco  piece  of  glass  painting  delighted  me  because  it 
looked  so  much  like  a  picture.  No  reason  was  given  me 
why  this  highly  enamelled  glass  picture  was  not  worthy  the 
praise  I  bestowed  on  it.  I  was  merely  snubbed  and  laughed 
at  for  admiring  it,  whereas,  had  it  been  pointed  out  to  me 
that  to  attempt  to  paint  a  picture  on  glass  was  putting  the 
material  to  the  worst  possible  use,  and  was  not  developing 
Its  resources,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  doing  quite  the 
opposite,  it  would  have  saved  me  some  misdirected  energy 
later  on.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  direct  the  student's 
attention  cpiite  as  much  to  what  is  most  worth  doing  as  it 
is  how  best  to  do  it,  and  this  should  be  done  by  appealing 
to  the  student's  reason  rather  than  by  sneering  at  his 
prejudices.  The  student  can  be  helped,  too,  by  being 
shown  good  examples  of  old  ami  modern  work  in  which 
the  resouices  of  the  particular  craft  arc  developed  on  right 


28  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

lines.    As  to  what  these  right  lines  are  the  following  chapters 
will  make  some  attempt  at  showing. 

How  entirely  design  is  controlled  by  method  of  repro- 
duction is  seen  in  the  economy  of  means  to  end.  Human 
labour  is  a  valuable  thing,  and  should  be  highly  prized  and 
reverently  and  economically  employed.  To  use  it  inade- 
quately by  misdirecting  it  or  undervaluing  it  is  thriftlessness 
or  worse.  A  designer  unacquainted  with  the  technique  of 
the  craft  he  essays  to  work  for  is  almost  certaia  to  fall  into 
one  or  both  errors.  I  hold  strongly  that  the  maximum  of 
effect  should  be  produced  with  the  minimum  of  effort. 
Craftsmanship  is  the  result  of  a  series  of  well-directed  single 
efforts,  each  representing  so  much  physical  and  mental 
power.  Each  of  these  efforts,  therefore,  should  be  valued, 
so  that  no  waste  takes  place,  and  the  beauty  of  hand  labour 
is  seen  largely  in  the  "  trick  of  the  tool's  true  play."  Ma- 
chine work  cannot  have  this,  as  a  machine  can  only  fac- 
simile a  particular  piece  of  work  the  required  number  of 
times.  It  can  therefore  secure  you  great  accuracy,  and  give 
you  work  which  is  "  faultily  faultless,  icily  regular,  splendidly 
null."  It  were  surely  wrong,  therefore,  to  try  to  make 
machinery  give  you  the  nervous  irregularity  of  the  hand  as 
to  put  the  hand  to  do  what  a  machine  so  unerringly  accom- 
plishes. These  remarks  are  truisms  I  know,  and  yet  how 
constantly  we  see  them  disregarded.  It  is  only  c,uite 
recently  that  the  beauty  of  beaten  silver  in  spoons,  for 
instance,  has  been  recognised,  simply  because  our  eyes  had 
grown  accustomed  to  the  highly  polished  surface  which  we 
grew  to  think  indispensable  to  plate.  Habit  and  custom 
largely  govern  taste,  because  so  few  of  us  think  indepen- 
dently and  act  for  ourselves.     Yet  it  is   in   the  breaking 


DESIGN  AND   CRAFTSMANSHIP. 


29 


away  from  the  established  order  of  things  that  our  per- 
sonality finds  expression,  and  an  original  turn  is  given  to 
work.  You  use  tradition  and  are  guided  by  precedent,  but 
are  not  bounded  by  it.  You  must  avail  yourself  of  the  past 
or  you  get  no  further  than  the  painted  mask  outside  a  wig- 


Fig.  18. 

warn,  but  from  what  is  known  and  has  been  accomplished 
you  stretch  out  to  the  unknown  and  reach  forward  to  that 
which  is  waiting  for  you  to  do. 

Mr.    George    Frampton    put    this    to    me   very   graphi- 
cally by  roughly  sketching  on  the  back  of  a  letter  the  two 


ro  ^   o   u  o<.">i.itj  is^iJtJijLiCuttjLiijMjtJijtj 


Fig.  19. 

diagrams  I  have  redrawn,  as  they  better  explain  what  one 
means  than  many  words.  You  have  a  long  narrow  space 
to  decorate,  let  us  say.  One  very  familiar  plan  is  to  have 
an  undulating  line  with  scrolls  springing  from  it,  and  flowers 
and  leaves  to  fill  up  (Fig.  18).  The  man  who  first  hit  upon  this 
certainly  succeeded  in  filling  his  space  in  a  very  adn^irable 


30  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

way ;  so  admirable,  indeed,  that  many  of  us  have  not 
troubled  to  think  out  any  other  way,  but  content  ourselves 
with   small    modifications  of  it.      But  a   craftsman   might 


Fig.  20. — Portion  of  Mitchell  Memorial.     By  G.  Frampton,  A.R.A. 

come  along  who,  disregarding  this  scrolly  arrangement, 
took  two  such  well-known  forms  as  the  cabbage  and  daisy, 
and,  arranging  them  something  as  in  Fig.  19,  broke  away  at 


DESIGN  AND   CRAFTSMANSHIP.  31 

once  from  tradition,  and  showed  us  that  there  was  one 
other  way  at  least  of  decorating  a  long  narrow  space. 

The  same  sculptor,  referring  to  a  memorial  to  Mitchell, 
the  shipbuilder,  which  he  was  working  at  the  last  time  I 
was  in  his  aU;lier,  told  me  that  people  have  grown  so  accus- 


^^^^^^M  "'  ^  g>        sfii'^ftl^^^^^^^^BB 

""^^^"^"^^B 

'Him--^-     1 

H 

SSPf^ 

1 

\}M 

I'l^.  Ji.-   (J.ii\nl  W'ooil  (..i|)il<il  aiul  Cro/.icr  in  Metal. 
By  G.  Pramplon,  A.R.A. 

tomcd  to  pillars  and  capitals  in  architecture,  that  when  he 
divided  his  panels  with  conventionalised  tree  trunks  and 
foliage,  they  felt  almost  outraged,  a;-.d  one  architect  expos- 
tulated with  him  on  the  enormity  of  his  proceeding.  Vet 
because  pillars   have  been  used  for  so   many  centuiiLS,  it 


32  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

does  not  follow  that  there  is  no  other  way  of  supporting  an 
arch  or  dividing  a  series  of  architectural  spaces  or  niches, 
and  yet  the  man  who  breaks  away  from  tradition  is  certain 
to  bring  down  a  storm  of  criticism  upon  him  from  those 
who  cannot  open  their  minds  to  a  new  impression. 

The  very  original  treatment  of  a  wooden  capital  to  a 
pillar  in  the  handsome  fire-place  exhibited  at  the  "Arts  and 
Crafts  "  in  1896  was  condemned  by  some  architects,  because 
it  did  not  follow  custom  or  conform  to  rule — was  not  a 
"  capital "  in  their  sense,  in  fact ! 

The  one  thing  craftsmen  have  to  fight  for  is  liberty  to 
express  themselves  in  their  own  way.  It  will  take  time  to 
effect,  but  events  hasten  at  certain  periods  in  the  world's 
history,  and  I  foresee  that  as  the  public  is  much  more  ready 
to  accept  new  departures  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  my 
pupilage,  it  will  before  long  demand  originality,  or,  at  all 
events,  personality,  in  all  work  :  the  crafts  will  have  to  be 
steeped  in  the  ego  of  those  who  wrought  them,  instead  of 
being  cut  out  to  some  pattern  which  custom  has  termed  the 
style  of  so  and  so.  Style  will  not  then  mean  some  arbitrary 
arrangement,  and  the  craftsman  treated  as  a  piece  of  cloth 
pinned  to  a  paper  pattern  by  which  to  shape  him,  but  will 
be  recognised  as  individuality,  the  expression  of  a  trained 
mind  and  skilled  fingers  rejoicing  in  its  work. 

That  division  of  art  into  "  Fine  "  and  that  which  is  not 
fine  is  of  course  a  wholly  misleading  one,  and  shows  a 
great  lack  of  appreciation  as  to  what  constitutes  art  on  the 
part  of  those  who  make  such  a  division.  No  such  distinc- 
tion can  be  made,  for  the  same  impulses  are  stirred,  whether 
you  paint  a  portrait  or  carve  a  pew  end.  Thought,  imagi- 
nation, an  eye  for  proportion,  hand  cunning,  the  result  of 


DESIGN  AXD   CRAFTSMANSHIP.  33 

long  training,  are  required  wherever  art  is  produced.  The 
artist  should  throw  himself  just  as  strongly  into  his  work, 
whether  he  choose  to  carve,  work  in  metal,  or  paint  on 
canvas.  The  idea  that  anything  will  do  because  the  work 
is  not  bounded  by  a  gilt  frame  is  happily  dying  out.  There 
is  no  higher  or  lower  art  ;  it  is  all  to  be  judged  from 
the  same  platform.  As  Ruskin  says,  "  The  only  essential 
distinction  between  decorative  and  other  art  is  the  being 
fitted  for  a  fixed  place  ;  and  in  that  place,  related,  either 
in  subordination  or  in  command,  to  the  effect  of  other 
pieces  of  art.  And  all  the  greatest  art  which  the  world  has 
produced  is  thus  fitted  for  a  place,  and  subordinated  to  a 
purpose.  There  is  no  existing  highest  order  art  but  is 
decorative.  The  best  sculpture  yet  produced  has  been  the 
decoration  of  a  temple  front — the  best  painting  the  decora- 
tion of  a  room." 

The  tendency  to  specialisation  which  comes  of  the  sub- 
division of  work  in  these  days  is  very  detrimental  to  the 
development  of  a  craftsman.  Physically,  change  of  work  is 
rest,  and  an  artist  tired  of  one  work  can  by  change  of  labour 
achieve  what  idleness  cannot.  The  great  men  of  the  past 
did  everything  in  their  calling,  and  some  of  the  marked 
personalities  in  the  present  day  are  all-round  workers. 
Witness,  Alfred  Gilbert,  George  Frampton,  and  Alex. 
Fisher,  to  take  three  names  occurring  to  me,  and  the  repro- 
ductions of  the  work  of  the  last  two  in  these  pages. 

Before  taking  up  some  of  the  more  prominent  art  crafts 
individually,  I  wish  to  make  it  clear  to  the  reader  that  what 
follows  is  not  a  series  of  "lessons"  on  these  crafts,  but  an 
examination  of  the  principles  underlying  the  successful 
practice  of   them,   witli    special  reference    to  the  work  of 

D 


34 


THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


•*X'*5..<^ 


Fig.  22. — Nature  Study,  modelled  in  Low  Relief  by  A.  Wakeford. 
(Prize  \vork,  South  Kensington.) 


DESIGN  AND   CRAFTSMANSHIP.  35 

modern  craftsmen.  The  only  training  worth  anything  is 
working  under  a  practical  man,  for  technique  cannot  be 
imparted  successfully  by  written  directions,  and  training  in 
the  art  crafts  can  be  obtained  much  more  easily  now  than 
it  could  a  few  years  since.  At  the  end  of  the  book  will  be 
found  a  few  of  the  schools  in  London  where  instruction  is 
given  in  the  crafts,  with  some  of  the  teachers  engaged ;  but 
instruction  in  hand-cunning,  however  thorough  it  be,  is  not 
the  only  teaching  necessary.  Work  must  exhibit  taste  as 
well  as  skill,  and  harmony  between  means  and  end,  by  which 
I  mean  that  every  craftsman  should  so  work  that  the  utmost 
is  made  of  the  particular  quality  inherent  in  each  craft. 
Wood  should  not  be  carved  as  though  it  were  stone,  or  glass 
painted  as  though  i-t  were  a  canvas ;  and  it  will  be  my 
endeavour  to  point  out  what  is  the  direction  one's  work 
should  take  to  secure  the  best  results — best,  that  is,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  craft  itself,  for  on  the  question  of 
'•design"  dogmatism  is  i/c  trop ;  besides,  what  little  of  a 
definite  nature  I  have  had  to  say  on  that  subject  has 
already  been  said. 

In  the  former  chapter  I  have  dwelt  on  the  necessity  of 
drawing  much  from  nature.  Modelling  is  also  very  helpful 
— in  some  respects  even  more  helpful.  The  modelled 
panel  by  A.  Wakeford  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  work 
direct  from  nature,  the  character  of  the  plant  being  caught 
with  artistic  sympathy. 

The  chapters  which  follow  will  deal  with  some  of  the 
important  art  crafts,  and,  being  illustrated  from  the  works 
of  some  of  the  best  craftsmen  of  the  day,  ought,  on  that 
ground,  to  be  of  use  to  the  student,  who  can  see  at  a  glance 
in  what  direction  the  Art  of  the  day  is  moving. 


CHAPTER   III. 

REPOUSSE   AND   FINE   METAL-WORK. 
'•He  who  blows  thro'  bronze,  may  breathe  thro'  silver." 

|0  bring  out  the  beauty  of  metal  it  is  necessary  that 
some  portions  should  catch  the  light  and  others 
be  thrown  into  shadow,  and  the  more  we  break 
up  tlie  surface  judiciously  the  more  beautiful  will  be  the 
effect,  as  we  can  see  by  comparing  a  machine-polished  piece 
of  brass  and  one  hammered  out,  so  that  each  hammer  mark 
shows.  And  yet  for  years  the  public  was  under  the  spell  of 
highly  polished  metal,  whether  it  were  ordinary  brass  work 
or  silver  plate.  There  is  a  beauty  of  its  own  in  a  piece  of 
beaten  silver  or  copper,  and  if  we  add  to  this  a  design,  no 
matter  how  simple  it  may  be,  produced  by  beating  up  the 
metal  from  the  back,  we  have  within  our  reach  a  beautiful 
craft,  and,  in  the  hands  of  an  artist,  one  capable  of  great 
things.  Beaten  metal,  by  reason  of  this  variety  of  surface 
(a  series  of  facets,  one  might  say)  which  comes  of  hammer- 
ing, seems  "to  live,"  while  the  machine-polished  surface  by 
its  very  perfection  acts  icily  on  the  senses,  and  has  a  dead 
perfection  about  it  which  leaves  us  untouched.  Where  we 
can  follow  the  hand  cunning  and  see  the  marks  of  the  tool, 
metal  is  then  made  human — we  associate  it  with  an  indivi- 
dual and  are  drawn  to  it. 

I  put  Repousse  in  the  first  place  as  a  surface  decoration 


REPOUSSE  AND  FIXE  METAL-WORK.  37 

for  metal.  So  great  value  does  the  mere  beaten  metal  give 
a  design,  that  there  is  a  danger  of  letting  anything  do  instead 
of  paying  the  greatest  heed  to  the  design  you  elect  to  beat 
up,  for  if  a  poor  design  is  enhanced  by  the  method  of 
production,  a  really  beautiful  and  suitable  one  is  made 
precious  by  it, — and  metal  should  always  have  this  quality  of 
preciousness,  and  this  quite  apart  from  the  value  of  the 
metal  itself — a  finely  worked  piece  of  repousse'  steel  can 
certainly  possess  it  as  much  as  silver  or  gold.  Some  metals 
are  more  beautiful  than  others,  but  the  value  of  metal-work 
should  be  in  the  design  and  workmanship.  We  see  this  in 
old  silver,  which  will,  for  choice  examples,  fetch  some  pounds 
per  oz.,  though  its  value  as  metal  is  about  2s.  id.  Where 
expensive  metals  such  as  gold  or  platinum  are  used,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  work  must  be  confined  within  a  limited 
space,  which,  therefore,  "conditions"  the  design.  Much 
more  delicacy  of  manipulation  can  and  should  be  given  to 
a  piece  of  jewellery  than  would  be  effective  on  a  dish,  say 
18  inches  in  diameter,  for  it  is  a  truism  to  say  that  it  is 
always  necessary  to  keep  a  due  relationship  between  design 
and  area  to  be  decorated,  though  it  is  not  always  observed. 
Seeing  that  repousse  is  finished  from  the  front  as  well  as 
beaten  up  at  the  back,  a  considerable  amount  of  detail  can 
be  wrought  in  the  design,  but  the  effectiveness  of  repousse 
does  not  depend  upon  minuteness  of  manipulation  so  much 
as  upon  a  judicious  discriminating  number  of  accents  or 
sharp  lines,  just  to  help  the  beaten-up  parts.  There  should 
be  the  feeling  of  a  wave — the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  sea — about 
repousse.  The  design  should  swell  up  and  recede  and  die 
away  into  the  metal,  and  no  one  part,  to  my  thinking,  should 
be  in  excessive  relief.     The  plane  of  the  surface  should  not 


133508 


38  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

be  destroyed  by  the  decoration,  and  then  there  is  always  the 
danger  of  breaking  through  the  metal  in  the  more  highly 
beaten  parts,  and  this  Avith  all  the  care  that  may  be 
exercised.  If  this  happens,  then  the  part  has  to  be  soldered. 
A  beginner  should  choose  such  an  article  as  a  door-plate, 
and  confine  himself  to  beating  up  a  few  simple  forms  in  low- 
relief,  and  depend  largely  upon  producing  the  effect  by  the 


Y\'g.  23. — Silver  Casket  desijjjned  by  G.  Frampton,  A.R.A., 
for  the  Skinners'  Company. 

beating  up  from  the  back.  Avoid  imitating  nature.  Think 
of  treating  metal  effectively  rather  than  rendering  objects. 
Silver  and  copper  are  the  metals  most  usually  employed. 
Silver  beats  well  and  has  a  beautiful  frosted  appearance, 
quite  different  to  the  highly  polished  metal  we  call  plate. 
It  was  a  revelation  to  many  people  at  the  Arts  and  Crafts 
Exhibitions  to  see  beaten  silver  spoons  and  dishes,  for  the 


REPOUSSE  AND  FINE  METAL-WORK.  39 

metal  looks  infinitely  more  valuable  than  polished  silver. 
For  jewellery,  too,  silver  is  very  appropriate,  and  specimens 
of  repousse  jewellery  are  given  in  the  chapter  on  that 
subject. 

Copper  for  all  general  purposes  is  the  best  metal  to  beat, 
being  tough  and  elastic.     Brass 
is   more    brittle    and    is    little 
used. 

Steel  is  used  for  small  work, 
and  Mr.  Alex.  Fisher  has  worked 
in  this  metal  with  beautiful 
results.  So,  too,  has  Mr.  Nelson 
Dawson. 

Pewter  is  sometimes  used, 
and  I  have  seen  it  effectively 
employed  in  some  electric  light 
fittings  by  Mr.  Ashbee. 

I  cannot   do   better,  for  the 

encouragement    of    those    who 

have  yet  to  "find"  themselves, 

than  give  a  few  personal  notes 

about    some  of   tlie    craftsmen 

whose  work  is  figured  in  these 

Fi<;.    24 — Emu's   E<,'<;  Centie- 
P^»^^-  piece,  with  Beaten   and    Cast 

The  experiencesof  Mr.Nelson       Metal  Su]ipoits.    By  Nelson 
Dawson    and     Mr.    Catterson- 

Smith  ]» )int  to  the  conclusion  that  if  one  art  calling  will  not 
receive  tlie  earnest  worker,  another  may  oft'er  him  the 
opportunity  he  desires  of  giving  his  aspirations  utterance. 
Mr.  (iilbcTt  Marks  again,  who  was,  when  I  wrote  about  him 
in    The    Art  Journal,   only  devoting   his   leisure   to  metal- 


40  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

work,  has  received  sufficient  encouragement  to  throAv  up 
the  commercial  bird  in  the  hand  for  the  artistic  two  in  the 
bush. 

Mr.  Nelson  Dawson  is  an  instance  of  a  man  who  has 
experimented  for  some  time  before  he  finds  out  what  it 
would  appear  he  can  best  do.  From  architecture  he  turned 
his  attention  to  painting,  and  his  water-colour  studies  of 
the  sea  evince  observation,  selection,  and  high  technical 
skill,  as  those  who  have  seen  his  work  in  the  Royal  Academy 
and  British  Artists,  and  other  galleries,  know.  But  Mr. 
Dawson  experienced  what  so  many  painters  have  done,  or 
are  doing,  that  the  patronage  extended  to  the  painter  of 
pictures  is  meagre  in  the  extreme.  The  world,  apparently, 
can.  all  too  easily  for  artists,  do  without  pictures  ;  and  what 
is  more  degrading  than  to  spend  half  your  energy  in  fruit- 
lessly trying  to  secure  purchasers  for  your  handiwoik? 
There  is  a  story  told  of  Flateau,  the  eminent  picture  dealer 
of  the  forties  and  fifties,  who  met  Dickens  at  dinner.  After 
hearing  every  one  talking  about  tiie  novelist's  cleverness  for 
some  time,  he  turned  to  his  neighbour  and  said,  "  I  dare  say 
he's  a  good  writer,  but  /  call  it  clever  to  make  a  man  buy  a 
picture  as  doesn't  want  to."  Mr.  Dawson  began  hammer- 
ing metal  as  a  pastime,  and  finding  that  he  could  express 
himself  in  this  way,  took  it  up  more  seriously,  until  com- 
missions began  to  come  in,  and  now  he  has,  in  addition  to 
Lis  own  atelier,  workshops  for  more  distinctly  commercial 
work,  like  hinges  and  door-plates. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Nelson  Dawson's  metal- 
work  were  some  hammered  door-plates  he  did  for  a  few 
of  his  artist  neighbours  at  Chelsea.  It  was  impossible  to 
a\oid  noticing  them   because  they  were  so  fresh  and  dis- 


REPOUSSE  AND  FINE  METAL- WORK.  41 

tinctive.     One  did  not  realise  what  could  be  made  of  a 


Fij;.  25.      SUculi  ol    (_  cull  cjnccc  111   Sil\ci    ami    'nil,  |i.ni--    l-.n,iiiielk'il. 

Designed  and  Executed  by  Alex.  Pisher,  and  exhibited  in 

the  Royal  Academy,  1897. 

door-plate  until  one  saw  what  Mr.  Dawson  made  of  them, 


THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


and  having  seen  we  wondered  how  it  was  that  it  had  been 
left  to  one  man  to  point  out  the  more  excellent  way. 

Mr.  Nelson  Dawson,  whose  studio  is  in  Manresa  Road, 
Chelsea,  told  me  that  he  found  his  training  as  an  architect 
useful  to  him  now  that  he  had  become  an  Art  craftsman, 

but  the  greatest  help  he  received 
was  from  his  wife.  "  If  it  were  not 
for  Mrs.  Dawson  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  me  to  have 
taken  up  enamelling  as  I  have 
done.  In  fact,  it  is  more  her  woik 
than  mine,"  he  said. 

Mr.  Dawson,  like  Mr.  Fisher, 
who  taught  the  former  enamelling, 
uses  enamels  a  good  deal  in  his 
metal -work. 

Though  beaten  metal-work  first 
engaged  his  attention,  he  does  not 
confine  himself  to  copper  or  silver, 
for  I  saw  some  highly  ornamental 
hinges  made  for  a  hanging  cabinet 
of  beaten  steel,  but  I  am  unable  to 
give  a  drawing  of  them  here,  as 
Y\a.  26.  —  Hand  -  Minor  Mr.  Dawson  finds  that  in  the 
^'''';   i^tr'i-f"'^   commercial  work  turned  out  under 

executed  by  Alex,  r  ishei. 

his  direction — he  has  a  regular 
workshop  in  which  his  designs  are  carried  out  under  his 
supervision — his  designs  get  copied  (always  very  badly)  by 
"  the  Firms."  A  memorial  tablet  of  repousse  copper  gave 
me  some  idea  of  how  taste  and  thought  can  give  value  to 
a  work  otherwise  of  no  special  interest. 


REPOUSSE  AND  FL\E  METAL-JVORK. 


43 


Mr.  Alexander  Fisher  was  a  National  scholar  some  ten 
years  ago,  having  come  from  Torquay  to  London  on 
obtaining  his  scholarship.     The  student,  following  in  his 


Fiy.  27. — Cuj).     By  (lill)cil  .Marks. 

father's  footsteps  ;it  that  time,  was  an  enameller  on  pottery, 
but  Avhile  at  Kensington,  having  taken  up  enamelling  on 
metal,  his  attention    was    naturally  turned    to  metal-work 


44  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

itself.  To  an  artist-craftsman  it  would  seem  an  unneces- 
sary subdivision  of  labour  for  one  to  do  the  metal- work 
and  another  enamel  it.  The  fact  that  Mr.  Fisher  has 
won  a  name  as  an  enameller  has  tended  to  obscure 
his  work  in  line  metal ;  but  the  two  sketches  he  has 
allowed  me  to  reproduce,  as  well  as  the  mirror,  is  ample 
evidence,  were  that  necassary,  that  we  have  here  an  artist 
whose  ambition  it  is  to  express  himself  in  his  own  way,  and, 
what  is  more,  he  has  something  to  say  as  well  as  the  skill 
to  say  it.  Like  that  old  master  Cellini,  enamelling  comes 
largely  into  play  in  Mr.  Fisher's  metal-woik,  and  a  very 
beautiful  adjunct  it  is.  I  shall  have  more  to  say  about  Mr. 
Fisher  in  the  chapter  on  enamelling.  The  Royal  Academy 
has  recognised  his  ability  as  a  craftsman  by  giving  pro- 
minence to  his  work  for  some  years  past. 

In  Mr.  Gilbert  Marks'  case  his  talent  would  appear  to  be 
hereditary,  for  he  is  the  grandson  of  a  working  goldsmith 
as  well  as  the  nephew  of  the  late  Fred  Walker  and  H.  S. 
Marks,  R.A.  His  metal-work,  which  is  chiefly  beaten 
silver,  was  the  work  of  his  leisure  (helped  by  two  assistants), 
for  Mr.  Marks  was  "  something  in  the  City,"  though  now 
Art  wholly  claims  him  for  her  own.  A  bold  free  treatment 
of  plant  form  characterises  Mr.  Marks'  design,  the  metal 
and  the  method  of  hammering  it  entirely  governing  this 
part  of  his  work.  The  breaking  up  of  the  surface  so  as  to 
get  lights  and  darks  is  the  first  consideration  in  repousse, 
and  I  am  glad  to  see  that  Mr.  Marks  understands  the  value 
of  breadth  in  his  designs,  and  avoids  producing  his  effect 
by  the  aggregation  of  "small"  motifs,  but  keeps  his  work 
large  and  simple.  The  silver  casket,  Fig.  23,  designed  by 
Mr.  G.  Frampton,  was  executed  by  Mr.  Marks. 


REPOUSSE  AND  FINE   METAL-WORK. 


45 


Mr.  Catterson-Smith  came  from  Dublin  in  1874  to  be 
under  Foley,  but  the  Royal  Academician  dying  soon  after, 
Mr.  Smith  took  up  painting,  and  it  was  not  until  1892  that 
he  turned  his  attention  to  metal-work.     He  said  to  me,  "  I 


Y'x"^.  28. — Dish  of  Beaten  Silver.     By  R.  Catterson-Smilli. 

only  wisli  some  good  angel  had  advised  me  to  adopt  the 
metal  craft  twenty  years  ago.  I  believe  the  salvation  of 
Art  and  artists  lies  in  the  Art  crafts." 

What  instruction  in  craftsmanship  he  received  was  at  the 
Bedford   Park  School  of  Art,  which  is  close  to  his  house. 


46 


THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


and  what  proficiency  he  has  attained  is  the  result  of 
his  own  endeavour.  I  am  able  to  give,  in  Fig.  28, 
a  repousse  silver  salver  beaten  out  of  the  flat  by  Mr. 
Catterson-Smith,  which  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  plant 
form   adapted   to  decorative   purposes.      A  London   firm, 


Fig.  29. — Alms-Dish  of  Cast  and  Chased  Silver. 
By  Arthur  G.  Walker. 


who  sold  some  of  Mr.  Smith's  work,  tried  to  get  their  own 
workmen  to  reproduce  this  particular  salver,  but  without 
success;  for  the  men,  being  trained  as  mechanics,  could 
not  give  the  work  that  freedom  and  spontaneity  which  gives 
beaten    metal    its    "preciousness."      They  tried    to   copy 


REPOUSSE  AND  FIXE  METAL- WORK. 


47 


piinstakingly  what  was   largely  the  result  of  accident,  and, 
as  one  may  imagine,  only  failure  was  the  result. 

The  silver  alms-dish,  by  Mr.  Arthur  Walker,  was  bought 


u 


M 


Q 


■o 


D 


O 


by  Mr.  Thompson  Yates  from  the  Academy  some  three  years 
ago.  It  is  cast  and  chased,  but  the  details  are  much  lost  in 
the  reproduction,  though  it  is  an  excellent  piece  of  work. 


48 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


The  purchaser  has  recently  presented  it  to  a  church  near 
Liverpool. 

Mr.  Ashbee's  name  is  linked  with  the  work  carried  on 
at  Essex  House,  Mile  End,  where  everything  from  a  coal- 
scuttle to  a  mantelpiece  is  made.  His  object  is  to  supply  a 
house  with  all  the  furniture — using   this  word  in  its  widest 


^^smr~-^'mm 

'^Sirs 

1    :,  ^  i»« 

IJrtftit 

^^i.'^f^^ 

JH^^^H 

■T" 

u.  -^gsg^ 

I'ig-  31  • — Jardiniere  in  Repousse  Copper.     (Chiswick  School  ot 
Arts  and  Craits.) 


sense — that  is  required  in  it.  The  beaten  copper  coal 
vase  is  a  good  example  of  what  such  work  should  be. 

Mr.  Ashbee  has  given  some  attention  to  jewellery  and 
silver  work,  specimens  of  which  will  be  given  in  the  chapter 
on  jewellery. 

Mr.  George  Frampton,  A.R.A.,  has  allowed  me  to  repro- 
produce  a  silver  ca«;ket  which  he  designed  for  the  Skinneis' 


REPOUSSE   AND   FIXE   METAL- WORK. 


49 


Company.  It  is  an  entirely  frank  piece  of  work,  as  the 
rivets  show.  Why  cannot  those  who  have  the  frivin'^  of 
prizes,  which  take  tlie  form  of  plate,  patronise  an  artist 
instead  of  a  manufacturer?  I  know  men  who  have  l)een 
successful  sportsmen   who   have   innumerable  cups  won   in 


Fig.  32. —  Altar  Canulcsticks  in  O.ik  and   (iuii    .Metal,  and    1  lot-WalcT 
Jug  in  Repousse  Copper.     (Keswick  .School  of  Industrial  Arts.) 

competitions,  which  are  neither  useful  nor  ornannntal. 
They  stow  them  away  in  cases,  and,  except  for  their  \  alue  as 
metal,  are  worthless.  There  is  any  amount  of  talent  waiting 
to  be  employed  in  mctal-woik,  and  it  rests  therefore  with 
the  patron  if  something  better  than  the  ordinary  cuj)  or  vase 
is  not  competed  for. 


so 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


The  Birmingham  Guild  of  Handicraft  is  an  association 
of  craftsmen  working  in  all  departments  of  skilled  labour. 
The  finger-plates,  handles,  and  other  articles  of  everyday 


« 
o 
'3 


a 


pq 

^' 
3 

r^ 

/^ 
'p 

s 
s 

o 
U 


Utility  show  that  this  guild  is  grappling  with  the  difficulty 
of  bringing  Art  into  common  life,  for  it  is  useless  holding 
abstract,  academic  views  on  what  should  be  :  the  thing  is 


REPOUSSi  AND  FINE  METAL-WORK.  51 

to  do  something  which  will  soon  lead  to  the  more  excellent 
way,  and  this  the  Guild  of  Handicraft  is  doing.  It  is  by 
taking  in  hand  the  ordinary  "furniture"  of  life,  and  making 
that  of  interest  and  beauty,  that  commercial  success  at  all 
events  is  to  be  reached.  The  word  "  Brummagem  "  has 
been  so  long  a  term  of  reproach  where  anything  like 
artistic  work  is  concerned,  that  it  is  pleasant  to  be  able 
to  bring  into  notice  this  Birmingham  guild,  for  though 
in  "Brum,"  they  are  not  of  it  in 
spirit,  their  endeavour  being  to  give 
as  much  Art  for  the  money  as 
Caleb  Plummerdid  to  his  toy-horses 
for  sixpence. 

The  Birmingham  School  of  Art 
is  in  the  front  rank  as  a  teaching 
institution,  and  very  excellent  and 
"up-to-date"  artistic  work  emanates 
from  it.  The  students  seem  more 
anxious  to  become  art  workers  than  ^.-j^     34.— Design    tor    a 

painteis    of    second    or    third    rate      Lock  Plate.    By  H.  .S. 

Stromquist. 
pictures,    and    I    should    say    that 

many  of  them  will  have  no  cause  to  regret  this  decision. 


I  can  hear  it  said  that  we  cannot  all  have  coal-boxes  of 
hammered  copper,  or  spoons  of  beaten  silver,  but  then  it  i-s 
not  my  purpose  to  do  more  than  direct  the  reader's  atten- 
tion to  what  is  being  done  here  and  there  in  craftsmanship, 
and  not  what  is  generally  possible.  Art  has  nothing  to  do 
with  economies;  besides,  the  dealer  in  Tottenham  Court 
Road  is  touched  by  the  ebb  and   How  of  tendency  in  due 


52  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

course,  and  will,  because  one  man  invests  a  coal-box  with 
"artistic  merit,"  offer  to  the  oi  poUoi  a  daintier  coal-box 
than  he  thought  of  doing  aforetime. 

ECCLESIASTICAL   METAL- WORK. 

When  Solomon  built  the  Temple  we  are  told  that  he  sent 
to  the  King  of  Tyre  for  "  a  man  cunning  to  work  in  gold, 
and  in  silver,  and  in  brass,  and  in  iron,"  and  Hiram  sent 
Solomon  a  cunning  man,  "endued  with  understanding,  who 
could  grave  any  manner  of  graving,  and  could  find  out 
every  device  that  was  put  to  him."  It  cannot  be  said 
that  those  who  build  Temples  in  this  land  take  the 
trouble  to  search  out  the  cunning  workers,  or  we  should  not 
see  such  lamentable  waste  of  money  in  our  religious 
buildings  that  so  often  makes  the  judicious  grieve. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure,  therefore,  to  be  able  to  give 
examples  of  the  ecclesiastical  metal-work  of  two  men  who 
are  doing  their  best  to  raise  the  standard  of  church  work. 
It  is  a  poor  commentary  on  the  Art  education  of  the  clergy 
that  so  little  support  is  given  to  artists  who  are  waiting 
to  be  hired  to  devote  their  energies  and  taltnts  to  the 
decoration  of  our  churches.  The  "firm"  and  manu- 
facturer is  constantly  chosen,  and  the  individual  left 
to  eat  his  heart  out  with  disappointment  for  lack  of  en- 
couragement. 

A  glance  at  the  w^ork  of  H.  Wilson  and  W.  Bainbridge 
Reynolds  shows  how  excellent  is  the  effect  obtainable  by 
treating  metal  either  as  a  surface  to  be  beaten  up,  hammered, 
and  made  to  lose  and  find  itself  as  in  the  example  by  the 
former,  Fig.  35,  or  where  metal  is  twisted  and  pulled  into  a 


REPOUSSE  AND  FINE  METAL-IVORK.  53 

succession  of  geometrically  planned  motifs,  the  whole  form- 


■nycm^K^m.  wt  im  i^  i  w  ^am^immmmK^mmtmm  '-t 


f.f.-^XJ.    ^-i.*!***.! 


■^'^k'-  35' — ^tJ^^i"-      *•>   •'•  Wilson. 

ing  a  coherent,  logically  built-up  design,  as  in  Mr.  Reynolds' 


54  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

screen,  Fig.  36,  here  illustrated.  Mr.  Wilson  would  appear 
to  be  less  influenced  by  tradition  than  Mr.  Reynolds,  for 
while  the  latter  works  in  the  Gothic  spirit,  Mr,  Wilson  may 
be  said  to  be  expressing  his  ego  regardless  of  what  the  crafts- 
men of  the  middle  ages  have  done.  I  am  not  in  any  way 
instituting  a  comparison  between  these  two  nineteenth- 
century  craftsmen.  I  merely  desire  to  see  each  man's  work 
from  his  own  point  of  view,  for  the  woik  speaks  for  itself. 
The  craftsmen  shall  speak  for  themselves. 

Mr.  Wilson's  work  in  metal,  for  he,  like  Mr.  Reynolds, 
is  an  architect  as  well  as  craftsman,  has  so  far  been  mostly 
confined  to  repousse  copper  and  brass  in  the  form  of  door 
sheathing,  panels  for  fireplaces  and  chimney  breasts, 
though  he  has  in  hand  some  candelabra  and  other 
work.  Mr.  Wilson  said  to  me  that  he  wished  to  avoid 
altogether  any  reminiscence  of  traditional  habits  or  manners 
of  design,  and  he  therefore  goes  direct  to  nature  ard 
endeavours  to  realise  in  his  work  that  spirit  which  the  study 
of  natural  form  suggests,  and  in  his  designs  to  suggest  the 
spring  and  growth  of  natural  forms  instead  of  those  con- 
ventions which,  like  precedents  in  law,  so  many  designers 
are  content  to  abide  by.  If  men  worked  in  this  spirit  we 
should  hear  no  more  about  the  style  of  Louis  XIV.  or  ai  y 
other  peiiod,  but  the  expression  of  the  individual. 

It  is  evident  that  Mr.  Wilson  feels  very  strongly  on  this 
jjoint,  for  he  says  : — "  I  can  never  understand  that  attitude 
of  mind  which  makes  men  content  to  reproduce  variations 
of  other  men's  woik,  even  though  the  men  whose  Avoik  is 
copied  lived  in  the  heroic  ages.  To  accept  another's 
convention  is  the  worst  foim  of  intelleclual  towaidice. 

"  If  we  ha\e  any  vision  at  all,  one's  view  of  tilings  must 


REPOUSSE  AXD  FINE  METAL-JVORK. 


Si? 


Jrifj.  36.— Screen.      By  \V    Baiiibi id j,'e  Reynolds. 


56  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

be  different  from  (and  to  that  extent  interesting,  because 
it  gives  us  a  new  conception)  all  others  ;  whereas,  any  copy 
of  another  man's  idea  is,  at  the  best,  the  shadow  of  a  shade, 
weaker  by  one  remove  at  least  from  that  nature  which  gives 
strength  to  all  the  best  work." 

Several  examples  of  Mr.  Wilson's  work  were  in  the  last 
Arts  and  Crafts,  among  them  the  brass  door  of  which  an 
illustration  is  given. 

^V.  Bainbridge  Reynolds  was  an  articled  pupil  of  INIr. 
J.  D.  Seddon,  the  well-known  architect.  Soon  after  he 
had  completed  his  articles  he  worked  under  the  late  G.  E. 
Street,  K.A.,  and  it  was  whilst  working  on  the  details 
of  the  iron-work  of  the  new  Law  Courts  that  he  became 
interested  in  architectural  metal-work.  He  felt,  however, 
that,  although  the  meduxival  tradition  in  stone  and  wood- 
Avork  had  at  that  time  been  admirably  revived  in  English 
architecture,  metal-wcrk  was  on  the  whole  below  the  aitistic 
standard  of  the  best  existing  examples  of  old  woik.  He 
therefore  devoted  himself  for  some  years  to  the  study,  not 
only  of  mediaeval  iron-work,  but  of  metal-work  in  its  many 
applications,  of  later  periods  and  of  various  countries. 
Eventually  he  started,  a  few  years  ago,  forges  and  woikshops, 
where  architects'  designs  in  metal,  and  his  own,  have  been 
since  executed  under  his  direction. 

Mr.  Reynolds'  principal  aim  is  to  consider  the  forms  in 
his  designs  with  reference  to  the  particular  methods  by 
Avhich  each  metal  can  be  worked,  and  in  execution  to  allow 
to  be  apparent  the  hnmaii  element,  an  element  which  is  lost 
where  the  tiist  consideration  is  a  mechanical  perfection  of 
surface.  In  these  days  it  is  all  too  easy  to  attain  this  geo- 
metrical precision  of  form  and   surface,  while  to  preserve 


REPOUSSE   AND  EINE  METAL-WORK.  57 

the  "  individuality  "  both  of  the  metal  and  of  the  craftsman 


Fig.  37.— Lcclcin.     By  W.  Bainbikl-jc  RoynoUls. 
requires  an  artist's  guidance  as  well  as  an  artist  s  hand. 


58  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

The  large  candelabra  was  exhibited  at  the  Arts  and 
Crafts  in  1886,  and,  apart  from  its  size,  was  a  noble 
piece  of  work.  The  riveting  together  of  beaten  -  out 
copper,  which  form  the  arms,  is  a  new  and  effective 
departure. 

WROUGHT   IRON. 

I  do  not  know  any  craft  in  which  it  is  truer  to  say  that 
the  method  of  work  suggests  the  design  than  in  wrought 
iron.  Heat  a  bar  or  rod  of  iron  to  redness,  and  it  can  be 
easily  bent  and  twisted  into  beautiful  spirals  and  scrolls. 
Beat  out  the  end,  and  the  form  of  a  leaf  or  flower  can 
be  given  to  it.  The  leaves  growing  around  an  oriental 
poppy  stem  suggest  a  motif  which  has  been  used  with 
various  modifications  in  wrought  iron  through  three 
centuries.  This  can  be  seen  by  reference  to  Fig.  2  in 
Chapter  I. 

Iron  itself  suggests  a  certain  severity  of  treatment  which 
we  find  in  the  best  work.  It  can  be  elegant  in  construction 
and  graceful  and  delicate  in  its  details,  but  the  whole  work 
should  hint  at  strength,  for  iron  suggests  strength,  and 
therefore  in  the  details  I  think  it  is  a  mistake  to  encrust  the 
work  with  very  delicately  beaten-out  forms  suggesting  paper 
festoons.  The  backbone  of  the  design  should  be  the 
twisted  rods  and  bars,  and  the  utmost  effect  should  be 
obtained  by  this  simple  twisting  and  hammering. 

The  supports  of  old  inn  signs  made  by  the  village  smith, 
which  still  may  be  seen  in  country  places,  simple  as  they  are, 
are  on  quite  the  right  lines,  for  the  smith  twisted  his  iron 
while  it  was  hot,  making  it  take  forms  which  could  be  most 


REPOUSSE   AXD   FINE   METAL-U'ORA'. 


59 


ensily  produced  :  it  VA'as  design  springing  out  of  craftsman- 
ship, than  which  nothing  can  be  more  appropriate.  Tie 
basis  of  wrought-iron  designs  would  seem  to  be  the  opp  si- 


F'S-  3^- — Wrought  Iron  Siaii  Railing'.     Hardnian,  Powell  &  Co. 


tion  of  curves  to  straight  hues,  for  the  straight  bar  is 
inseparable  to  wrought-iron  work;  besides  affoiding  a  capital 
foil  to  the  curves  and  scrolls. 


6o  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAITSMAN. 

The  gradual  tapering  of  the  end  of  a  rod,  or  the  splitting 
of  it  into  two,  three,  or  more  smaller  rods,  suggests  the 
form  the  design  should  take.  There  is  a  tendency  to  be 
guarded  against  of  making  the  detads  too  naturalistic; 
imitating  roses,  for  instance,  seems  to  be  overstepping  the 
modesty  of  nature  :  it  certainly  is  putting  beaten  iron  to  a 
false  use,  beside  a  simpler  treatment  is  more  effective.  If  the 
design  springs  out  of  the  craftsmanship  we  should  have  less 
of  this  imitation.  A  detail  which  takes  an  immense  trouble 
to  make  is  invariably  on  the  wrong  lines.  Carving  cherry 
stones  may  display  skill  and  ingenuity,  but  it  does  not  atone 
for  the  grievously  misdirected  energy  which  makes  the 
judicious  grieve. 

Many  of  the  wrought-iron  balustrades  of  the  last  century 
are  excellent  specimens  of  craftsmanship,  for,  being  under 
cover,  a  more  delicate  and  fanciful  treatment  was  permissible 
than  would  be  the  case  were  the  work  exposed  to  the 
elements.  The  skill  of  the  smith  is  seen  in  the  beaten-out 
leaves  enwrapping  the  main  lines  of  the  design,  and  also  in 
the  beauty  of  the  curves.  The  appreciation  of  the  subtleties 
of  a  curve  showii  in  the  17th  and  iSth  century  iron-work 
tells  one  that  the  men  who  wrought  them  were  artists. 

An  amateur  taking  up  wrought  iron  should  get  a  gocd 
blacksmith  to  instruct  him  in  the  methods  of  hammering, 
twisting  and  shaping  iron  while  hot.  His  instruction  will 
probably  end  there,  for  unfortunately  country  blacksmiths 
have  lor  so  long  not  been  asked  to  do  anything  needing  a 
sense  of  beauty,  that  thiy  \AOuld  require  instruction  in  the 
possibilities  of  tlieir  craft  before  they  could  do  anything 
themselves. 

The  two  Italian  tiipods,  Figs.  39  and  41,  are  in  the   Lir- 


I^EPOUSS£  AXD  FINE  METAL-IVOR K. 


6i 


mingham  Museum,  where  other  good  specimens  of  wrought 
iron  may  be  seen,  and  at  South  Kensington  Museum  is  an 
excellent  collection  of  many  periods  and  peoples.     "       '    • 

The  elaborate  old  hinges  on  church  doors  are  excellent 
instances  of  what  can  be  done  with  simple  means,  for 
nothing  elaborate  in  workmanship  is  attempted,  the  whole 
effect  being  the  result  of  curved 
lines. 

The  17th  century  sword-rests  in 
many  of  the  City  churches  are  beau- 
tiful specimens  of  workmanship. 
I  give  illustrations  of  two  which  I 
drew  some  time  since  for  an  article 
in  The  Art  yoiinial,  on  "  Art  in 
the  City  Churches,"  Fig.  42. 

I  extract  the  following  from  an 
article  on  "  Decoratively  Wrought 
Iron,"  by  J.  M.  O'Fallon,  which 
appeared  in  the  same  pa])er. 

'•At  the  present  hour  charcoal 
iron  is  much  i)refcrred  for  these 
purposes.  Great  quantities  of  it 
come  from  Sweden  in  huge  lumps 
called  '  blooms,'  which  are  afterwards  reduced,  rolled 
into  sheets  of  varying  thicknesses,  or  drawn  out  into 
different-si/cd  rods,  rountl  or  Sfpiare-shaped.  The  sheets 
are  selected  for  cuiting  or  sj  litting  up  and  working  into 
all  kinds  of  things,  besides  certain  makes  of  leaves,  petals, 
and  imitations  of  similar  natural  growths.  The  rods  in  th.e 
process  of  smithing  are  thinned  as  wanted  for  stems,  tendrils, 
and  other  jiarts  of  patterns;  or  they  may  be  beaten  out  into 


iron,  Italian,  1600. 


G2  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFISMAN. 

leaves;  or,  when  desired,  thickened  up  at  the  ends,  shaped 
into  buds,  and  in  many  ways  made  into  more  or  less  tasteful 
adjuncts  of  ornamental  iron-work. 

"  We  now  enter  m^re  fully  into  our  subject.  The  struc- 
tural arrangement  of  a  design  being  decided  upon  and 
built  up  in  the  bar  iron  (this  is  occasionally  sivagcd  in  part 
— that  is,  beaten  and  shaped  while  hot  betwixt  two  mouUls 
or  swages),  the  ironsmith  turns  his  attention  to  making  the 
ornamental  filling  for  it;  which  may  be  a  gate,  a  spandril, 
or  other  heavy  object,  or  a  light  object.  Minor  panellings 
can  seldom  be  welded  into  the  principal  framing,  so,  as  a 
rule,  are  attached  by  collars,  screws,  or  rivets ;  even  scroll- 
work and  leaves  and  husks  may  be  so  attached,  but  not 
generally  by  the  true  craftsman — when  you  find  him  and  he 
is  allowed  to  have  his  way.  The  principle  that  may  be  said 
to  actuate  him  when  circumstances  favour  his  carrying  out 
his  own  conceptions  to  completion,  is  that  at  least  the 
properly  ornamental  part  of  his  work  shall  be  founded  on 
natural  forms,  as  in  the  best  Gothic  and  Renaissance. 
Unfortunately,  the  present  competitive  system  under  which 
labour  is  conducted,  and  the  consequent  subdivision  of 
labour,  has  the  workman  its  slave  ;  and  ironsmithing,  like 
other  originally  eiuiobling  handicrafts,  is  carried  on  in 
sei)arate  departments.  Forging  and  welding,  even  of  leaves 
and  flowers,  in  most  shops  now  form  a  distinct  trade  from 
that  of  the  beating  out  to  a  finish  of  the  leaves  or  flowers  ; 
and  both  are  occasionally  the  mere  work  of  the  stamper  or 
of  the  girl  at  the  press.  With  stamping  or  pressed  work 
we  do  not  concern  ourselves  now,  but  proceed  to  give  a 
short  description  of  how  a  leaf  is  made  from  forging  to 
finish.     This  will,  we  hope,  help  the  uninitiated  to  a  fair 


REPOUSSE  AND  FINE  METAL-WORK. 


f>3 


5 


u 

^    'u 


o 


v.  di 


J-.    O 


-I-     ^ 


O 


6t 


THE    TRAINIXG    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


comprehension  of  the  ins  and  outs  of  an  ordinary  specimen 
of  ornament  of  wrought  iron  in  which  such  leaf  is  hkely  to 
be  present.  The  smith  gives  it  something  of  a  rudimentary 
shape,  usually  leaving  the  stem  attached  in  the  rough.  The 
stem  may  be  primary  or  secondary  :  as  a  rule  it  is  secondary 
for  reducing  in  length  or  thickness,  and  welding  on  to  the 
primary,  according  to  the  run  of  the  pattern.     The  btaling 

towards  finish  is  done  at  the 
vice.  The  rough  forging  is 
held  in  the  left  hand  on  a 
punch- shaped  piece  of  steel, 
V-grooved  at  the  tcp,  which 
appears  just  over  the  grip  of 
the  vice;  in  the  right  hand  a 
hammer—  elongated  from  the 
'pene,'  or  striking  end,  to 
what  in  an  ordinary  hammer 
would  be  called  the  face,  but 
which  is  in  reality  another 
pene — with  the  proper  'hang' 
is  brought  down  unerringly 
on  the  rough,  which  is  moved 

Fig.  4 1. -Tripod,  Wrought  Iron  along  a  little  with  each 
.Sjjiral  and  Scroll  Work,  stroke  until  the  centre  vein  has 
Italian,  i6co.  .  ,         t^     • 

traversed  its  length.     Durmg 

this  operation  the  leaf  is  kept  from  sinking  too  much  in  the 

middle  by  an   occasional  hit  on  either  side  of  the  vein. 

The   shorter  veins,  usually  simple,  but  at   times  reticulate, 

are  produced  with  a  lighter  touch ;  and  the  margins  may  be 

left  entire  or  variously  cut  or  divided.     The  leaf  is  bent  in 

several  ways  in  imitation  of  nature,  and  according  to  the 


Tlie  crown  and  lion  t()im(  J  the  i'ifj-  42- 

terminal,  but  owing  to  lu'ii;ht  ol 
cut  liad  to  be  placed  at  side.  K 


66  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

position  it  has  to  take  in  the  work  as  a  whole.  The  petals 
of  ilowers  seldom  require  veining,  but  are  bent  about  much 
after  the  same  fashion  as  leaves.  For  assisting  flower  forms 
a  ball-ended  hammer  is  used  on  the  thin  iron,  cut  to 
size  wanted,  and,  while  being  struck  into  shape,  held  over 
a  hoUowed-out  or  tubular  iorm  fixed  in  the  vice.  Stamens 
and  pistils  are  added  to  flowers — when  their  presence  is 
thought  necessary,  and  the  price  allows.  The  chisel  or 
chasing  tool  and  hammer  were  often  in  the  hands  of  the 
MedicCval  and  Renaissance  worker  in  iron.  He  sculptured 
or  beat  up  the  cold  metal  into  quaint  figures  and  beautiful 
floriations  and  foliations  without  apparent  effort,  but  with 
all  the  pleasure  begotten  of  real  love  for  his  work.  It  is 
true  that  he  sometimes — as  in  England  so  far  back  as  the 
early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  in  the  He  de  France, 
so  famous  for  its  blacksmithing,  of  which  Notre-Dame  has 
so  many  grand  examples — assisted  his  work,  generally  while 
hot,  with  forms  of  dies  and  swages ;  but  aids  of  this  kind 
may  be  quite  justifiable  when  governed  by  correct  taste  and 
discrimination  such  as  were  natural  to  the  old  ironsmiths  ; 
particularly  while  seeking  to  express  details  of  special  parts 
of  patterns,  and  in  their  diapers  and  repeats.  Love  of  Art 
for  Art's  sake  was  equivalent  in  those  days  to  love  of  work 
for  work's  sake.  The  workman's  attention  was  not  absorbed 
in  creating  quantity  before  quality  ;  nor  the  master,  who 
was  the  best  artificer,  in  calculating  money  profit  before 
everything.'' 


CHAPTER    IV. 


JEWELLERY, 


HERE  we  have  an  art  which  exists 
entirely  for  its  beauty,  and  yet  how 
wanting  in  daintiness  and  thought 
is  the  bulk  of  the  jewellery  we  see 
staring  at  us  in  the  shop  windows ! 
A  jewel,  I  take  it,  should  be  unique, 
for  to  give  such  a  thing  to  a  friend 
is  a  compliment.  Why  not,  there- 
fore, have  it  made  expressly  for  the 
recipient,  as  our  verbal  compliments 
are  (or  should  be),  and  not  some 
stock  article  possessed  by  any  one 
who  will  put  down  so  much  money 
for  it  ?  To  search  out  some  artist  working  in  the  precious 
metals,  and  give  him  a  commission  to  fashion  some 
article  expressly  for  the  occasion,  would  seem  to  me  to  be 
a  valued  privilege,  and  one  I  am  disposed  to  covet.  No 
need  to  fear  that  the  work  would  be  repeated,  for  an  artist 
hates  doing  again  what  he  has  once  well  done ;  when  the 
work  is  finished  it  is  put  aside,  for  there  are  so  many  other 
ideas  waiting  tu  lind  ;i  lo(  al  liabitalion  and  a  name. 

A   jewel,  therefore,  should  always  be  unitjue.     It  is  an 


Fig.  43.^PciKh\nt  in 
Gold  and  Enamel, 
with  Pearl.  By  Alex. 
Fisher. 


68 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


idea,  having  special  reference  to  the  person  for  whom  it  is, 
made  definite  in  metal  and  helped  it  may  be  with  gems  ;  or 
if  the  gem  itself  is  of  great  beauty,  then   the  metal-work 


o 


J3 
o 


CI 

1) 

pi  I 

^  i 

^2 


^Z-  (L) 


o 


9j 


0) 


a.  ^ 


"3  ? 

E  « 

rt  •- 

.2f  c 
o   « 

^    bo 


o  g  ■•« 

>  —    > 


cj    o 


o  o  o 


o 


o 


must  do  all  it  can  to  lead  up  to  the  "  precious  "  stone.    The 
metal  then  becomes  a  beautiful  framework  to  the  gem. 
To  get  out  of  the  mechanical  groove  into  which  jewellery 


JEWELLERY.  '  69 

has  run  for  so  long  is  the  first  necessity,  and  leads  up  to  the 
second  one,  originalit}'.  As  one  stands  looking  at  the 
glitter  of  a  jeweller's  shop,  how  one  longs  tof  an  original 
touch,  a  personal  note,  the  expression  of  a  mind  instead  of 


No.  I.  Huddhist  Ornament,  the  pendant  of  thin  l)rass  in  relief. 

No.  2.  Kabyle  Chain  and  Clasps  of  white  met.il,  set  with  rough  coral. 

the  output  of  macliines  !  I  am  happy  to  say  that  in  the 
Royal  Academy  this  last  few  years  some  few  specimens  of 
jewellery  have  been  shown.  Mr.  Alfred  Gilbert.  R.A.,  has 
devoted  much  of  his  time  to  working  in  the  precious  metals, 
and  his    "  Mayor  of  Preston's   Chain"    is  one  of  the   most 


70  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

beautiful  pieces  of  jewellery  produced  this  century.  This  fact 
alone  shows  how  the  old  lines  of  demarcation,  which 
separated  what  used  to  be  called  fine  art  from  the  crafts, 
are  effaced.  Mr.  Alex.  Fisher  and  Mr.  George  Frampton 
have  both  exhibited  beautiful  specimens  of  fine  metal-work, 
full  of  fancy  and  originality — invested  indeed  with  artistic 
merit.  A  jeweller  should  remember  that  thoughtful  human 
labour  is,  after  all,  the  most  valuable  thing  in  the  world,  and 
therefore  if,  as  I  have  elsewhere  said,  the  value  of  metal- 
Avork  should  be  in  the  workmanship,  with  how  much  more 
force  is  this  in  the  case  of  jewellery,  the  raiscm  if  eire  of 
whose  existence  is  its  beauty  ? 

At  the  Arts  and  Crafts  Exhibitions,  too,  some  excellent 
jewellery  has  been  displayed,  and  I  believe  that  people  have 
only  to  be  shown  original  work  to  demand  it.  The  responsi- 
bility does  not  rest  wholly  with  the  craftsman,  for  the  patron 
should  be  on  the  look  out  whenever  he  sees  the  work  of  an 
original  spirit,  so  that  when  opportunity  occurs  he  may  help 
the  worker  by  extending  his  discriminating  patronage  to  liim ; 
but  an  artist,  whatever  be  the  medium  in  which  he  works, 
must  compel  patronage  by  the  force  of  his  genius ;  he  must 
do  something  so  excellent  that  the  onlooker  cannot  resist 
the  appeal  all  good  work  makes,  viz.,  to  desire  it,  and  if 
necessary  go  without  something  else  to  possess  it.  More 
is  expected  of  the  artist  than  of  the  public,  for  the  former 
leads  while  the  latter  follows.  A  good  many  of  us  are 
waiting  to  have  our  fancy  stirred  by  the  work  which  is  of 
good  report,  and  therefore  the  craftsman  must  not  wait 
until  the  public  moves;  he  must  not  only  direct  the  move- 
ment, but  initiate  it. 

The    revival    of  enamelling  has    encouraged  artists  to 


yF.WELLERY.  ■■    ••       ■  .,.j 

make  jewellery  as   an    amusement  if  not  professionally.      I 
am  able  to  give   a   specimen   of  the  work   of  Mr.  George 


Fi<^.  46. 

No.  I.  Antique  Indian  Pendant,  gold.  «ct  with  jewels.     From  Messrs.  Procter  &  Co. 
No.  2.   ICnglish  Eifjhteenth-eentury  Chain  of  gilt  metal  in  triple  series  of  link-;. 
No.  3.  Pendant,  set  witli   five  large  and   many  small   crystals.      I'rench  work  from 
Lower  Normandy.     .'Seventeenth  century. 

('I'lie  two  last  from  the  South  Kensington  Museum.) 


Fram])ton  in  this  direction,-'"  hut  as  it  depends  for  its  effect 
upon  the  enamelling,  only  a  bare  idea  of  the  jewel  itself 
can  be   obtained   from  the  illustration.      The  pendant   by 

*  'I'lic  ill\i>lr.ilinii  will  1)L-  fi)iii\(l  in  (liu  clKiplcr-  on  TMiannlliiiL,'. 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


Fig.  47- 


No.  I.  Silver  Brooch,  Norwegian. 

No.  2.  Neck  Ornanu'nt   of  silver-gilt,  seventeenth  century,  Swedish. 

From  the  1  orna  district,  in  the  province  of  Skane. 

(Both  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum.) 


yElVELLEKV,  ~  73 

Mr.    Fisher    is    a    skilful    piece  of  scroll    weaving,  and  is 
reminiscent  of  Holbein's  work   in  this  direction.     One   of 


Fiy.  4«. 

N'o(  klaci'  of  Pearls,  I'.ile  Coral,  and   Precious  Stonrs. 

(jold   liiiif^le,  (ieconteii  with   iol(U]teil   enamel   and  stones. 

Iniiian  work.     From  Messrs.  I'roc'HT  &  Co. 

its   chief  merits  to  n-:c  is  that   it   gets  away— a   long  way 
away — from  trade  jewellery. 

I  extract  the  following  from  an  article,  contrilnited  to  7'Jir 


74  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

Art  Journal  by  Aymer  Vallance,  on  Jewellery,  some  of 
the  illustrations  to  which  are  also  given,  as  they  point  out 
better  than  words  how  utterly  worthless  as  art  is  the 
''jewellery"  of  the  day. 

"During  the  eighteenth  century,  in  the  ornaments  of  the 
wealthier    classes,   the    stone-cutter   and    stone-setter  had 
practically  supplanted  the  artist   in  precious  metals;  and, 
from  that  date,  it  is  only  in  such  peasant  jewellery  as  has 
been   unaffected   by  ever- changing  and   ever-deteriorating 
fashions,   that  we  may  look  for  any  sound   traditions   of 
design  among  so-called  civilised  nations.     The  misplaced 
ingenuity  with  which  diamonds  and   other  precious  stones 
are  tortured  by  us  into  the  inane  similitude  of  a  garland  of 
flowers  or  a  spray  of  maidenhair  fern,  is  in  striking  contrast 
to  the  system  which  governs  the  best  traditional  ornament. 
One  feature,  which  may  almost  be  said  to  be  common  to  all 
artistic  jewellery  of  every  period  throughout  the  world,  is 
the    simplicity  of   its    ground-plan,    or,    at   any   rate,   the 
uncompromising  rigour  with  which  a  unit — in  itself,  perhaps-, 
not  so  severe — is  chosen  to  form  the   sum  of  an  ornament 
by  repetition.     For  example,  the  pear-shaped  pendant  (Fig. 
46,  No.  i),  handsome  as  it  is,  consists  of  an  aggregate  of  its 
own  form  on  a  reduced  scale.     The  pear-shape  and  the 
triangle  are,  it  will  be  seen   without  much  difficulty,   the 
elements  on  which  the  two  ornaments  (Fig.  45,  Nos.  i  and 
2)  are  based.      The   Norwegian  and    Swedish  ornaments 
(Fig.  47,  Nos.  I  and  2),  both  circular  in  plan,  are  further 
adorned  with  circular  pendants,  in  the  one  case  rings,  and 
in  the  other  concave  discs.     To  the  last  is  added  a  device 
frequently  to  be  met  with  in  Swedish  jewellery.     It  is  con- 
jectured to  be  the  monogram  of  the  name    Maria,  or  the 


JEWELLERY. 


/3 


initials  ot    the    angelic  salutation,    Ave  Maria.     Pendant 

drops,  whether  globules,  discs,   rings,  lozenges,   triangles, 

crescents,    pear  or    pine    shapes,   are  extensively  used    in 

ancient  and  traditional  jewellery  of    many  countries,  and 

might,   with  advantage,  be  adopted   by  ourselves.     Being 

attached  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  stirred   with   the  wearer's 

every  movement,  the  scintillations  of  the  play  of  light  upon 

them  has  won  for  them  among  the  Easterns  a  name  which 

means,  in  Arabic,  lightning.     Even  where  the  impression 

conveyed  is  that  of  sumptu- 

ousness,  it  will    generally  be 

found    on   analysis    that    the 

unit  is  comparatively  simple, 

as    in    the  .  Indian    necklace 

(Fig.  48).    This  class  of  chain, 

consisting   of   separate  plates 

linked    or    hinged     together, 

was    known   in   the    England 

of  Elizabeth    as   a   carcanet. 

In    certain    parts  of    France     Fig.    40. —  Brooch    with    pale 


Ameth\Nt  set  in  SjInci 
size.) 


(Full 


peasant  jewellery  is  still,  or 
was  until  recently,  made  of 
considerable  artistic  merit,  after  the  manner  of  the  old  cross 
(Fig.  46,  No.  3).  It  will  be  observed  that  the  lower  limb  is 
hinged,  a  practical  convenience  which  renders  it  less  liable 
to  gel  bent  or  snapped  off  in  wear.  Of  the  same  period  is 
the  fob  chain  (Fig.  46,  No.  2).  It  is  both  workmanlike  in 
execution  and  admirable  for  its  purpose." 

I  agree  with  the  writer  that  some  of  the  most  beautifid 
jewellery  is  the  aggregation  of  many  simple  units.  The 
necklaces  found  by  Schliemann   at  Troy  arc  made  on  this 


76  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

plan  of  linking  a  number  of  small  pendants  on  to  a  chain 
or  chains,  so  that  when  on  the  neck  it  sways  with  every 
movement. 

At  South  Kensington  Museum  may  be  seen  some  peasant 
jewellery  from  various  parts  of  the  Continent.  It  is  both 
artistic  and  effective  and  extraordinarily  cheap,  for  the  prices 
given  are  attached  to  the  labels.     The  necklace,  in  Fig.  48, 


Fig.  50. — Carbuncle  Brooch  in  Silver.     (Full  size.) 

is  built  up  of  two  simple  units  repeated  a  given  number  of 
times,  and  yet  how  entirely  admirable  it  is ! 


ON   THE   SETTING   OF   STONES. 

To  crowd  a  number  of  more  or  less  valuable  stones 
together  into  a  small  space  appears  to  be  the  ideal  of  the 
jeweller,  instead  of  making  each  gem  an  accent,  a  spot  of 


JEWELLERY. 


V\^.  51.  —  I'cndant   Inji.i/.  ami  (kiKI  .\ii  Ivlacc.      (Kciluccd  size.) 


;8 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


brilliance  or  colour  in  the  whole  scheme.  The  setting  should 
lead  up  to  the  gem,  the  one  helping  the  other,  and  in  the  work 
of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  so.  Holbein  designed  some 
most  beautiful  jewellery,  in  which  a  perfect  balance  is  pre- 
served between  the  metal-work  and  the  gems.  I  cannot  do 
better  in  this  connection  than  extract  the  following  from  an 
article  by  Mr.  Ashbee  on  the  setting  of  stones,  with  some 

of  the  illustrations  from  specimens 
of  work  executed  under  his  super- 
vision. 

Mr.  C.  R.  Ashbee,  I  may  remind 
my  readers,  has  started,  in  an  old 
Georgian  house  in  Mile  End 
Road,  known  as  Essex  House,  a 
Guild  of  Handicraft,  which  has 
developed  out  of  classes  he  in- 
augurated while  residing  at 
Toynbee  Hall.  Essex  House  is 
a  regular  workshop,  as  whatever  is  of  use  in  a  house  is 
made,  from  a  coal  box  to  a  necklace. 

"In  considering  the  question  as  to  what  one  is  to  do  in 
the  setting  of  stones,  I  think  the  safest  rule  to  be  observed 
is  that  one  must  not  bother  much  about  their  setting.  The 
treatment  of  stones  in  metals  should  be  a  matter  of  feeling, 
of  personal  taste,  of  character.  Apart  from  the  technical, 
and  I  think  less  important,  question  as  to  whether  a  stone 


Fi<j.     52.  —  Treatment    o 
Small     Grey     Pearl     in 
hammered  Silver.     (Full 
size.) 


should  be  set  in  a  band  turned  over 


01 


or  in  a  beaded 


rim  a^rW 


I  a  clip 


or  a  branched  cusping 


JEWELLERY. 


79 


,  there  are  a  number  of  matters,  more  important 

really,  which  resolve  themselves  into  artistic  predilection. 
That  rose  topaz  goes  well  with  gold,  especially  grey  gold ; 
that  a  carbuncle  should  be  polished  en  cabodwn.  antl  foiled, 
not  faceted  and  set  a  jour ;  that  amethyst  looks  vulgar  with 
gold,  more, particularly  coloured  gold  ;  that  rubies  should  not 


I'iti-  53- — ^'''^''  Sajjpliiic  ami  Moonstones  with  (ircy  Blue  luiamel,  set 
in  Silver  Wire.     (The  properly  of  Mr.  R.  Ratcl'iffe  Whitehead. ^ 


be  placed  by  themselves — these  and  a  number  of  other 
matters  in  the  setting  of  stones  are  not  to  be  reasoned  about. 
Circumstances  may  come  in  which  they  may  be  reversed  ; 
all  one  can  do  is  to  shrug  one's  shoulders  and  say — so 
at  least  think  I.  jewellery  is  a  personal  art  in  more  ways 
tlian  one. 

"  In  the  acconijjanying  plates — which  of  course  can  give 
no  idea  of  what  is  the  most  important  thing  of  all,  colour — 


8o 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN 


JEWELLERY.  8 1 

I  give  some  experiments  of  work  executed  from  my  designs 
at  Essex  House,  in  these  different  treatments. 

"As  to  the  arrangement  of  your  setting,  you  should  have 
your  stone  or  group  of  stones  before  you  and  plan  it  out. 
I  like  to  work  in  one  of  three  ways — either  with  the  pencil, 
painting  curves  in  plan,  section,  and  elevation,  on  a  piece 
of  paper  till  I  feel  the  lines  I  want,  the  main  curves  and 
tlie  big  central  stone  shot  forward  into  prominence  ;  or  with 
a  piece  of  wire  shaping  curves  that  fluw  from  one  plane 
into  another,  and  object  to  paper  renderings  ;  or  with  a 
piece  of  wax  that  will  let  itself  be  lovably  pinched  and 
petted,  and  holds  the  stones  affectionately  as  you  develop 
your  work." 

A  great  deal  can  be  done  with  beaten  silver,  especially  if 
enamelling  comes  into  play.  Simple  beaten  discs  of  silver 
attached  to  a  chain  by  means  of  links,  and  enamelled,  would 
give  a  most  brilliant  and  varied  effect.  The  jewel  by  Mr. 
George  Fiampton,  given  in  the  next  chapter.  Fig.  56,  is  an 
instance  of  an  excellent  and  original  result  obtained  by  veiy 
simple  means  and  no  great  expenditure  of  labour.  The 
neck  la.  e  (Fig.  54)  is  another  instance  of  how  excellent  an 
effect  <  an  be  ohtaincd  by  comparatively  simple  means,  if 
only  the  labour  is  directed  by  taste  and  originality. 


CHAPTER   V. 

ENAMELLING   ON   METAL. 

GREAT  revival  has  taken  place  in  this  very 
beautiful  art  within  recent  years,  and  work 
equal  technically  to  any  executed  in  the  six- 
teenth century  is  being  wrought  now,  while  a  much 
more  varied  palette  is  successfully  employed  by  artists 
like  Mr.  Fisher.  Why  such  an  art  should  have  been 
allowed  to  drop  into  desuetude  is  not  understandable,  for 
as  a  help  to  metal  work  it  at  least  was  worth  practising. 
The  goldsmiths'  work  of  Cellini  and  his  time  was  greatly 
helped  by  being  accented  with  enamels,  while  we  have 
only  to  see  the  collection  at  South  Kensington  Museum,  or 
the  recent  historical  one  at  the  Burlington  Fine  Arts 
Club,  to  realise  what  enamelling  can  do  when  in  the  hands 
of  a  master. 

Mr.  Alex.  Fisher  is  one  of  the  foremost  enamellers  of  the 
day,  as  his  work  in  the  last  two  Academy  exhibitions 
attests,  and  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  much  information 
embodied  in  this  article.  The  illustrations  of  enamels 
can  never  suggest  the  originals,  for  enamelling  is  essentially 
a  colour  art.  That  is,  like  stained  glass,  colour  is  its  raison 
(fetre,  and  nothing  must  be  done  that  will  check  the  display 
of  this  quality  3    even    design   itself  must   be  sacrificed  if 


ENAMELLING   ON  METAL.  ^i 

necessary.  There  must  be  no  attempt  at  picture  or  mini- 
ature painting  if  it  be  at  a  loss  of  colour,  for  the  enameller 
must  work  to  display  the  gem-like  quality  of  his  art.  Mr. 
Frampton,  who  does  a  little  enamelling  (two  specimens  of 
his  work  are  given,  Figs.  56  and  57  :,  holds  that  to  attempt 
too  much  in  the  way  of  figure  modelling  is  not  to  do  the  best 
with  the  art.  He  himself  goes  in  for  a  highly  decorative 
mosaic  treatment,  as  the  lid  of  the  casket  executed  for  the 
Skinners'  Company  shows.  The  human  figure  plays  a  large 
part  in  Mr.  Fisher's  designs,  and  he  shows  skill  as  a  draughts- 
man and  power  of  decorative  composition  with  no  loss  of 
the  colour  quality.  The  jewel  by  Mr.  Frampton  has  only 
so  much  design  as  gives  excuse  for  a  display  of  gem  like 
colour,  and  certainly  so  beautiful  is  the  effect  of  translucent 
enamels  on  silver  that  I  can  well  understand  the  disposition 
to  make  the  work  a  mere  palette  of  gems,  so  to  say. 

Copper  and  silver  are  the  metals  most  usually  enamelled. 
In  a  large  work  copper  would  be  used,  and  gold  or  silver 
would  be  introduced  as  thin  plates  of  metal  soldered  to  the 
copper  and  then  enamelled  over.  By  this  introduction  of 
gold  and  silver  under  transparent  enamel  the  most  brilliant 
and  varied  effects  can  be  obtained.  A  ruby  enamel  would 
have  three  different  tones  as  it  came  upon  copper,  silver, 
and  gold. 

The  enamels  are  of  two  parts — the  colouring  matter, 
usually  a  metallic  oxide,  and  a  flux  or  fusible  material  which 
re([uires  heat  to  melt  it  and  so  fix  it  to  the  metal.  The 
enamels  in  their  raw  state  are  like  lumps  of  dull-coloured 
glass,  and  require  to  be  pounded  in  a  mortar  or  ground  on 
a  slab  with  a  glass  muller  until  they  are  a  coarse 
powder,  and   they  are  then  mixed  with  water  and  painted 


84 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


on  the  metal  more  or  less  thickly.  The  colour  only  comes 
out  in  the  firing,  for  a  ruby  may  look  amber,  and  blue 
a  dull  yellow  before  firing,  so  a  good  deal  of  judgment 
is  required  to  know  what  you  are  doing.  In  this  respect  it 
is  like  underglaze  pottery  painting,  for  there  the  colours 
undergo  great  changes  in  the  kiln. 


■'"'g-  55- — Repousse  Steel  and  Euamelled  Casket.     By  Alex.  Fisher. 


The  enamels  are  fired  in  a  small  muffle  heated  with  gas, 
and  is  the  work  of  only  a  few  minutes,  but  an  elaborate 
enamel,  such  as  the  figure  on  Mr.  Fisher's  casket,  is  the 
result  of  painting  one  enamel  over  another,  and  is  therefore 
firefl  many  times.  Great  care  and  knowledge  is  here 
required  to  realise  the  ultimate  effect  of  one  colour  over 
another,  and  to  see  that  the  enamels  are  put  to  the  right 
heat,  for  too  much  heat  would  irretrievably  ruin  the  whole 
woik. 


ENAMELLING   ON  METAL.  85 

Then,  again,  some  enamels  are  transparent,  others  opaque, 
and  much  of  the  effect  is  obtained  by  the  opaque  enamels 
playing  into  the  transparent  ones.     Sometimes  an  enamel 
will  have  transparent  colours  in  the  background,  while  the 
design  is  opaque.     This  is  the  case  in  many  of  the  old 
Limoges  pieces  where  the  figures  are  in  white  on  a  deep  blue 
ground.     To  obtain  definition  colours  similar  to  those  used 
in  china  painting   are    employed  and   in  much   the  same 
Avay.     As  some  enamels  fuse  at  a  lower  temperature  than 
others,  these  have  to  be  put  on  last.     It  does  not  appear 
to  be  a  dithcult  art   at  the  outset,  to  one  accustomed  to 
underglaze  pottery  paintiny,  but  to  carry  it  to  perfection 
needs  a  long  apprenticeship.     Mr   Fisher  was  an  enameller 
on    pottery  before    he    took    up    metal-work,  and    it  was 
while  holding  a  scholarship  at   South   Kensington   that  he 
learned  metal    enamelling  of   a   M.   Dalpayrat,   a   French 
enameller,  who    gave  a    series  of   demonstrations  at   Mr. 
Armstrong's  initiative  at  the  schools.     "  I  resolved,"  he  told 
me,   "from  the  outset  to  master  the  whole   subject,   and 
commenced  to  experiment  on  the  making  of  enamels,  so 
that  I  might  understand  completely  their  capabilities  and 
how  best  to  develop  them.     This   was  an   arduous  under- 
taking, being  more  the  work  of  a   chemist  than   an  artist : 
but  I  now  make  all   my  best  colours,  though  where   1  can 
buy  any  that  are  of  any  use  to  me  I  do." 

Enamels  were  added  to  gold  and  silversmiths'  work  from 
the  fourth  to  the  seventh  century.  It  became  of  the  greatest 
importance  in  Byzantine  goldsmiths'  work,  when  Christianity 
became  the  religion  of  the  State,  and  has  been  used  by 
them  continually  down  to  our  own  time.  An  enameller  is 
of  necessity  a  wurker  in  metal. 


85 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


We  Avill  now  briefly  glance  at  the  various  processes 
employed  by  enamellers. 

Champleve. — This  is  the  simplest,  and  probably  the  oldest, 
form.     It  consists  in  cutting  out  spaces  on  a  thickish  plate 


Fig.  56.  — Enamelled  .Silver  Jewel.     By  Geo.  Frampton,  A.R.A. 


of  metal,  and  filling  these  in  with  powdered  enamel.  It  is 
then  fired  and  afterwards  filed  down  even  with  the  metal 
and  then  polished.  The  few  specimens  of  Saxon  work, 
such  as  King  .Alfred's  jewel,  are  enriched  in  this  way. 


ENAMELLING   ON  METAL.  87 

[^Niello  is  the  name  given  to  a  black  composition  made  of 
silver,  lead,  sulphur,  and  copper,  which  is  laid,  in  the  form 
of  powder,  in  lines  or  cavities  prepared  for  it  on  a  surface 
of  silver.  It  is  then  passed  through  the  furnace,  when  it  is 
melted  and  becomes  incorporated  with  the  metal.  It  is 
mentioned  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century.] 

Cloisonne  is  a  similar  process,  except  that  the  spaces  are 
made  by  wire  of  gold,  silver,  or  hard  brass  soldered  on  to 
the  metal,  usually  copper. 

These  "enclosures"  are  filled  with  enamels  applied  in 
the  form  of  a  paste.  The  work  is  then  fired  and  the 
surface  given  to  it  by  rubbing  the  enamels  over  with  stones 
until  the  whole  surface  is  smooth.  The  best  specimens  are 
hand  polished,  and  should  have  a  soft,  precious  surface 
like  some  beautiful  fruit.  Japanese  enamels  almost  entirely 
consist  of  this  kind,  and  they  are,  without  doubt,  the 
greatest  masters  of  this  branch  of  the  art,  and  the  skill  with 
which  a  Japanese  solders  down  the  filigree  bands  to  form 
the  enclosures  (and  the  design)  must  be  seen  to  be 
appreciated.     Japanese  Cloisonne'  is  generally  opaque. 

Bdssitaillc. — The  space  to  be  enamelled  is  beaten  or  cut 
below  the  surface  of  the  metal  and  then  carved  or  beaten  in 
low  relief,  so  that  when  the  transparent  enamel  is  placed 
Over  this  the  modelling  is  seen  through  it,  giving  an  extremely 
beautiful  brilliancy  to  the  enamel,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
very  fine  sense  of  form  to  the  modelling.  This  enamel  had 
its  origin  in  Italy  about  the  thirteenth  century,  and  some 
of  the  most  beautiful  pieces  of  goldsmiths'  work  have  parts 
or  points  coloured  by  this  method.  It  was  carried  to 
perfection  by  Cellini  and  his  pupils  and  contemporaries. 
One  of  the  finest  examples  of  this  method  is  seen  in  the 


8S 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN, 


cup  at  the  British  Museum  known  as  the  St.  Agnes  cup,  the 
en.Tmel  being  of  great  splendour  on  fine  gold. 

Plique  a  'your. — The  pattern  is  just  made  in  gold  or  silver 
wire  soldered  together,  much  in  the  same  way  as  the  lead 
in  stained  glass,  but  unlike  the  glass  the  enamel  is  fused 


Fig.  57. — Inside  of  Lid  of  Casket,  showing  enamel.     By  Geo. 
Frampton,  A.R.A. 

into  these  spaces  without  a  ground.  This  work  is  extremely 
delicate  and  fairy-like,  and  seemed  to  Mr.  Fisher  at  ore 
time  to  present  an  insuperable  difficulty,  but  he  at  length 
overcame  it. 

Limoges  generally  consists  in  a  subject  being  painted  in  a 
semi-opaque  white  enamel,  on  a  dark  ground  in  which  the 


ENAMELLING   ON  METAL.  8q 

thickness  and  degrees  of  thinness  of  the  white  give  the  Hght 
and  shade.  This  is  sometimes  coloured  with  transparent 
enamel.  The  well-known  Battersea  enamels  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  many  examples  of  which  are  to  be  seen 
in  South  Kensington  Museum,  were  done  by  first  covering 
the  metal  with  opaque  white  enamel,  and  then  firing  it  and 
painting  on  the  vitrified  surface  in  ordinary  china  colours. 

The  qualities  which  appeal  to  one  most  in  enamelling  of 
a  transparent  kind  (that  is,  where  the  metal  ground  is 
distinctly  seen  through  the  enamel)  are  brilliancy  and 
preciousness.  This  latter  quality  is  almost  entirely  over- 
looked, and  yet  to  my  mind  it  is  the  most  exquisite  of  all. 
It  is  almost  always  found  in  early  work,  which  is  partly  due 
to  the  love,  the  reverence,  and  the  humanity  of  the  ancient 
craftsmen.  I  mean  by  this  the  distinctly  human  effort  as 
contrasted  with  the  machine  work  of  to-day.  The  Celtic 
and  Byzantine  enamels  have  all  the  perfection  one  can 
possibly  desire  in  this  respect.  Mr.  Fisher  might  have 
used  the  words  of  Rabbi  Ben  Ezra:  not  "on  the  vulgar 
mass  called  '  work  '  must  sentence  pass,  things  done,  that 
took  the  eye  and  had  the  price;"  but  that  work  the  outcome 
of  the  desire  to  express  all  that  is  in  one  which  "  the  world's 
coarse  thumb  and  finger  failed  to  plumb." 

The  historical  exhibition  of  enamels  at  the  Burlington 
Fine  Arts  Club,  in  the  summer  of  1897,  showed  what  has 
been  done  in  the  past.  The  sixteenth  century  enamels 
are  probably  some  of  the  finest  ever  wrought  until  our 
own  time.  The  subjects  were  often  taken  from  prints  after 
pictures  by  Raphael  and  his  contemporaries,  and  the  cuts 
and  engravings  of  Dtirer.  The  old  enamellers  were  very 
fond   of  effects  en  grisaille,  and  a  large  number  of  pieces 


<)0  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

made  at  Limoges  are  of  a  dark  purplish  black  or  blue,  with 
the  design  in  white  slightly  tinted. 

EnamelHng,  like  all  vitrified  processes,  is  permanent,  and 
there  can  be  no  question  as  to  its  suitability  as  a  decoration 
to  metal.  For  plaques,  for  furniture  too,  the  most  brilliant 
effects  can  be  obtained  which,  when  set  in  dark  wood, 
would  be  particularly  handsome  as  decoration.  A  realistic 
treatment  is  not  the  idea  to  go  for,  but  a  decorative  or 
ornamental  treatment  of  plant,  animal  or  human  form. 
The  copying  of  pictures  is  a  mistake,  as  the  artist  is  cramped 
all  the  time  by  the  necessity  of  observing  his  des'gn,  and 
the  quality  of  his  enamel  will  suffer  in  consequence.  If  he, 
on  the  other  hand,  carry  out  his  own  design,  he  has  no 
restrictions  of  that  kind,  and  can  therefore  develop  his 
art  to  its  utmost  capacity. 

Mr.  Fisher  teaches  enamelling  at  the  School  of  Arts  and 
Crafts  established  by  the  County  Council  in  Regent  Street, 
and  also  at  the  Technical  School,  Finsbury,  and  from  work 
he  showed  me  executed  by  pupils  at  the  latter  place  I  should 
say  there  is  a  great  future  before  enamelling.  A  very  simple 
class  of  design  is  very  effective,  and  great  value  is  given  to 
the  design  by  the  method  of  reproduction. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
POTTERS   AND   PAINTERS. 

"  Time's  wheel  runs  back  or  stops  :   Potter  and  clay  endure." 

Rahbi  Ben  Ezra. 


^|HE  life's  story  of  most  eminent  potters  is  one  ot 
unending  struggle  against  disheartening  difificul- 


^  ties  only  partially  conquered  by  persistent  hope- 
fulness and  patience.  William  De  Morgan,  who  may  be 
taken  as  London's  representative  potter,  has  shared,  with 
men  like  Palissy,  many  of  the  trials  which  make  the  old 
French  potter's  life  so  stimulating  to  those  struggling  towards 
success ;  for  if  De  Morgan  did  not  have  to  use  the  house- 
hold furniture  wherewith  to  kindle  his  kiln,  he,  in  his  early 
experiments,  set  fire  to  the  house  in  Fitzroy  Square,  where 
he  had  fixed  up  a  small  muffle.  That  is  now  twenty-five 
years  ago,  and  all  this  while  has  our  London  potter  been 
experimenting  and  searching  for  more  excellent  ways ;  and 
from  what  one  knows  of  the  man,  he  will  continue  in  his 
pioneer  course,  for,  like  the  artist-craftsman  he  is,  there  can 
be  nothing  finite  in  his  work.  De  Morgan  had  taken  those 
lines  of  Browning's  to  heart  and  acted  upon  them  : — 

"  So,  take  and  use  thy  work, 
Amend  what  flaws  may  lurk, 
^Vhal  strain  i'  the  stuff,  what  warjjnigs  past  the  aim  !  " 


92  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

The  end  is  never,  but  always  something  to  be  reached,  for 
achievement  is  only  a  halting-place  or  coign  of 'vantage  from 
which  to  make  fresh  efforts.  Alexander  should  have  been  a 
potter,  and  then  he  would  not  have  said  there  were  no  more 
worlds  for  him  to  conquer. 

Where  Mr.  De  Morgan  lives  in  a  social  sense  does  not 
concern  us,  for  he  is  most  "  at  home "  at  his  pottery  in 
Chelsea,  and  it  was  my  privilege  to  be  taken  round  the  place 
by  the  master  potter  himself.  Everything  there  had  been 
thought  out  and  constructed  under  De  Morgan's  own  initia- 
tive, for,  as  he  told  me,  he  never  accepted  what  came  to  his 
hand,  but  has  had  to  reach  everything  for  himself  by  experi- 
ment. Even  when  he  stayed  in  the  potteries  years  ago, 
expressly  to  acquire  technique,  he  did  not  learn  what  he 
easily  might  have  been  taught  through  his  desire  to  start  de 
novo,  and  it  is  in  this  spirit  he  still  works.  At  one  time  he 
imported  tiles  from  Stourbridge,  and  would  only  paint  them 
at  his  pottery,  but  as  all  the  tiles  in  the  potteries  are  made 
of  compressed  dust,  they  will  not  stand  ex[)0sure  to  the 
varying  temperatures  without  breaking,  or  the  surface  flaking 
off,  and  Mr.  De  Morgan  said  that  this  fact  had  done  more 
to  discourage  the  use  of  tiles  in  decoration  than  anything. 
Now  he  makes  his  own  tiles  from  clay  sent  from  Stour- 
bridge mixed  with  ground  firebrick  and  old  seggars.  These 
tiles  stand  the  weather  perfectly,  as  a  specimen  shown  to 
me  testified,  which  had  been  in  a  London  window-box  for 
eleven  years. 

The  painting,  too,  instead  of  being  done  on  the  tile  itself, 
is  done  on  thin  paper,  and  this  is  stuck  down  on  the  surface 
of  slip  which  De  Morgan  always  uses  to  cover  the  dark 
body.     The  glaze  is  then  put  over  the  paper,  and  in  the 


POTTERS  AXD   PAINTERS. 


93 


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LMM 


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■*-l 

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04 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


firing  this  entirely  disappears.  De  Morgan  has  no  secrets. 
His  experience,  gained  at  so  great  a  cost,  is  freely  at  the 
disposal  of  any  potter.  "  Perhaps  I  know,"  he  said  to  me, 
"  more  chemistry  than  many  potters  do,  and  more  art  than 
most  chemists." 

His  pots  are  all  finished  on  the  wheel,  for  he  does  not 
believe  in  throwing  them  rough  and  then  finishing  them  on 
the  lathe,  as  is  the  usual  practice.     '•  It  is  a  most  deadly 


Fig.  59. — JDe  Morgan  Ware. 

occupation  for  the  men,  as  the  dust  produced  in  lathing 
clay,  which  must  be  'bone  dry,'  is  most  injurious  to  the 
lungs." 

Mr.  De  Morgan  hopes  soon  to  make  articles  of  house- 
hold use,  and  he  showed  me  some  teapots  in  hand  with 
a  special  kind  of  strainer  contrived  with  much  ingenuity. 
There  are  two  large  kilns  and  two  smaller  ones  in  use ;  the 
largest  is  capable  of  holding  some  thirty  thousand  six-inch 
tiles. 


POTTERS  AND  PAINTERS. 


95 


I  confess  I  write  sympathetically  about  potters  as  I  do 

about  glass  painters,   for  I   was  trained  in  both  crafts  in 

my  youth,  and  at  one  time  had   a  kiln  of  my  own.     De 

Morgan  was  led  from  painting  glass  to  turn  his  attention 

to  pottery,  as  I  did.     I  mention 

this  simply  because,  to  realise  a 

potter's    difficulties,   one    needs 

an  acquaintance  with  the  craft. 

When  one  remembers  that  fire 

is  a  potter's   necessary  servant 

(and  we  know  what  a  bad  master 

it  is),  we  at  once   realise    that 

he  has  difficulties  to  encounter 

which  do  not  beset  the  painter, 

Avho  has  not  to  submit  his  efforts 

when  he  has  completed  them  to 

such  a  trying  ordeal  as  a  kiln, 

even  if  he   have  to  submit  his 

works  to  the  hanging  committee 
of  an  exhibition.  It  is  an 
ignorant  arrogance,  therefore, 
which  makes  a  quite  mediocre 
painter  of  pictures  look  down 
upon  a  potter  as  of  coarser  clay 
than  himself. 

With  the  usual  lack  of  patron- 
age bestowed  ujoon  the  unobtrusive  worker,  who  cannot 
or  will  not  advertise  himself,  and  on  the  stimulus  supplied 
by  his  desire  to  conquer,  De  Morgan  has  slowly  overcome 
the  technical  difficulties  which  were  before  him,  and  pro- 
duced work   most   excellent   in  its  kind.      And  what  are 


V'w.  Go.— Lambeth  Faience. 


96 


THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


these  difficulties  ?  The  body  or  clay  used  in  the  pottery, 
the  colours,  the  glaze,  and  the  firing ;  these  are  the  several 
arcs  of  the  circle,  and  the  problem  is  to  make  them  into 
the  "  perfect  round." 

Mr.   l^e  Morgan  was  invited  by  the  Minister  of  Public 

Instruction  at  Cairo  to 
draw  up  a  report  on  the 
"  Feasibility  of  a  Manufac- 
ture of  Glazed  Pottery  in 
Egypt."  He  certainly 
turned  to  the  country  lying 
east  of  Egypt  for  inspira- 
tion, and  took  as  his 
samplers  the  Persian  pot- 
tery of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  (also 
known  as  Damascus  and 
Rhodian),  which  is  noted 
for  the  richness  of  its  glaze, 
giving  the  painted  decora- 
tion (always  under  the 
glaze)  a  soft  gem-like  biil- 
liance  quite  unsurpassed  in 
potteiy.  The  glaze,  as 
every  potter  knows,  is  the 
most  important  considera- 
tion ;  and  the  thick  coating 
of  glass  De  Morgan  gives  his  pottery,  mingling  with  the 
colours,  produces  a  softness  (the  colours  melting  into  the  glaze 
softens  the  edges  of  the  painting)  and  gem-like  transparency 
which,  as  a  practical  pottery  painter,  I  always  envied. 


Fig.  6i. — De  Morgan  Ware. 


POTTERS  AND  PAINTERS. 


ti7 


Perhaps  the  most  interesting  woik  turned  out  at  the 
Chelsea  Pottery  is  the  celebrated  lustre  ware.  De  Morgan's 
attention  was  firsc  directed  to  lustre  by  noticing  the  irides- 
cence seen  on  glass  when  the  yellow  stain,  due  to  chloride 
of  silver,  is  overfired.  Copper  and  silver  are  the  two  metals 
used  at  Chelsea  in  the  i)roduction  of  lustre,  the  former 
yielding  a  ruby,  and  the  latter  a  yellow  lustre.  The  His- 
pano-Mauresque  ware  is  decorated  in  lustres,  and  the  old 
sixteenth-century  majjlica  is  lustrous,  but  I  doubt  whether 


Fij^.  62. — De  Morgan  Tiles. 

lustre  of  old  times  is  superior  to  the  best  specimens 
produced  by  De  Morgan.  As  a  good  deal  of  misconcep- 
tion exists  as  to  what  lustre  is,  I  may  state  briefly  that  it  is 
the  result  of  reducing  the  metals  which  are  painted  upon 
the  glazed  surface  (usually  a  tin  glaze)  mixed  with  some 
infusible  earth,  by  charging  the  muffle  when  at  a  dull  red 
heat  with  wood  or  other  vegetable  smoke.  When  cold,  the 
material  used  with  the  metals  is  rubbed  off,  leaving  the 
lustre  beneath.      1  he   must   exact   conditions    have    to    be 

H 


gS  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

observed  to  produce  good  results,  for  too  much  heat  and  an 
excess  or  lack  of  smoke  will  cpoil  the  kiln.  The  excitement 
attending  the  opening  of  a  kiln  must  be  lived  through  to 
be  realised  ;  so  also  must  the  disappointment  when  nothing 
but  failure  is  encountered,  and  the  painter's  labour  is  thrown 
away. 

De  Morgan,  in  the  conclu-«ioa  of  a  lecture  on  Lustre, 
delivered  before  the  Society  of  Arts,  said  :  "  I  can  only 
say  that  if  anyone  sees  his  way  to  using  the  material  to  good 
purpose,  my  experience,  which  I  regard  as  an  entirely 
chemical   and  mechanical   one,   is  quite  at  his  disposal." 


Fig.  63. — Amateur's  Work.     By  Thackery  Turner. 

Nevertheless,  he  is  largely  his  own  designer,  and  I  shal4 
leave  the  specimens  given  in  this  article  to  speak  for 
themselves.  The  colour  beauty,  which  is  always  the  chitf 
charm  of  pottery,  cannot  be  indicated  in  the  illustrations. 
Martin  ware  is  another  production  of  London.  The 
kilns  are  in  Fulham,  and  it  has  been  noted  for  its  salt- 
glazed  ware  for  some  years.  The  master-potter  is  one  of 
those  unobtrusive,  non-advertising  craftsmen,  content  to 
turn  out  excellent  work  year  after  year,  trusting  to  the 
patronage  of  the  discriminating.  The  show-rooms  used  to 
be  (and  I  believe  still  are)  in  Brownlow  Street,  Holborn, 


POTTERS  AND   PAINTERS. 


9') 


and  those  collecting  modern  pottery  should  exan.ine  Martin 
ware,  as  it  is  excellent  in  its  kind. 

In  dealing  with  a  firm   like   Doulton's,   the  personality 
which,  in   De  Morgan's  case,  is   so  interesting,  is  wanting. 
Doulton's  is  a  big  concern,  a  manuflictory  carried  on  on  a 
gigantic  scale,  and  might,  with- 
out much  stretch  of  metaphor, 
be  likened  to  a  sponge,  which, 
seemingly  one  organism,  con- 
sists   in    reality  of  a   colon)'. 
Originally  founded   in   Vaux- 
hall,  in    1815,  John   Doulton 
and  J.  Watts  established  them- 
selves later  at   Lambeth,  and 
in   1.S46  the  present  head  of 
the  firm,  and  son  of  the  original 
John     Doulton,    commenced 
the  manufacture  of  stoneware 
drain-pipes  and  other  sanitary 
pottery,  and   it  was   not  until 
1866  that  the  opportunity  was 
taken  to  connect  Art  workman- 
ship with  the  previous  rough 
productions.     Within  the  last 
twenty  years  the  productions 
of  Lambeth  pottery  have  been  i)rominently  before  the  public. 
It  deserves  to  be  stated  here  that  the  individual  has  not  at 
Lambeth  become    merely  a  sort  of   cog  on    the  wheel  of 
tlic  huge  machine,  for  it  has  been  the  custom  for  Doulton's 
craftsmen   to  sign  the  pieces  they  are  severally  responsible 
for;  and   in  tiiis  way  the  two   Miss   Barlows'   spontaneous 


Fi^.  O4. — Lambeth  Faience. 


lOO 


THE    TRAIN IXG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


sketches  of  animal  and  birds  incised  in  the  wet  clay  are 
known  to  those  familiar  with  modern  pottery. 

From  what   I  saw  dining  a  visit  to  the  pottery  I  take  it 
that  a  fair  measure  of  liberty  is  allowed  all  those  who  rise 


Fig.  65.  — Solon  Ware.     By  Minion. 

above  the  rank  of  mere   "  hands,"  so  that,  within  certain 
limits,  they  can  give  their  art  instincts  proper  expression. 

This  is  as  it  should  be,  for  it  is  only  in  this  way  that 
uniqueness  can  be  imparted  to  the  productions  of  the 
Lambeth  pottery.  To  feel  that  you  have  one  of  an  infinite 
number  of  similar  vases  detracts  from  the  satisfaction  of 
possession,  and  the  mechanical  uniformity  of  manufacture 


POTTERS   AND  PAINTERS,  loi 

is  avoided  if  each  piece  has  some  individuality  attaching  to 
it.  Art  cannot  be  manufactured,  and  the  sooner  that  is 
recognised  the  better.  Messrs.  DouUon  have  of  necessity 
to  cater  for  a  general,  and  therefore  perhaps  an  uncritical, 
unresponsive,  public  ;  but  the  more  they  seek  to  develope 
originality  in  their  craftsmen,  so  that  each  piece  has  a  spon- 
taneous fl  )w  of  life  and  thought,  the  expression  of  some  mood 
or  emotion  about  it,  the  higher  will  the  productions  of  the  Lam- 
beth pottery  rank.  Women  have  always  been  largely  employed 
at  Doulton's,  and  it  is  work  certainly  well  within  the  faculties 
of  women,  for  the  manipulation  of  wet  clay  is  one  necessi- 
tating patience,  finger  dexterity  and  deftness— qualities 
associated  more  with  women  than  men. 

The  Lambeth  kilns  produce  two  classes   of  pottery  — 
stoneware,  which  is  salt-glazed  ;  and  painted  ware,  which  is 
glazed  afterwards  with  a  moderately  soft  glaze.     The  former 
is,  I  should  say,  that  which  will  gain  for  Lambeth  its  distinc- 
tion, as  it  was  evolved  naturally  from  the  ruder  drain-pipe. 
The  process  of  salt-glazing  is  not  applicable   to  any  other 
kind  of  ware  than  stoneware,  as  the  glaze  is  really  formed 
by  tlie  partial  fusion  of  the  clay  itself.     During  the  last  stage 
of  firing,  when  the  ware  is  just  on  the  point  of  vitrifaction, 
common  salt  is  thrown  into  the  kiln.     The  decomposition  of 
the  salt  fills  the   kihi  with  dense   fumes  of  salt  vapour,  pro- 
ducing on   the  wares  a  gloss  or  glaze  of  silicate  of  soda 
exceedingly  hard  and  thin,  exactly  even  over  all  parts  of  the 
surface  and  hiding  not  the  least  touch  left  by  the  etching  or 
modelling  tool.     Salt-glazed  ware  is  an  ideal   pottery,  and 
there  is  a  charm  about  the  surface  and  colour  of  salt-gla/ed 
ware  which  is  unlike  any  other.     "  Doulton  ware,"  as   it  is 
termed,  follows  in  style  of  decoration  the  Grcs  de  Flan(h\s 


o 

(J 


H 


^ 


o 
c/3 


o 

o 


tfi 


POTTERS  AXD   PAIXTERS. 


103 


of  the  seventeenth  century,  modelled  or  applied  decoration 
being  its  leading  feature. 

I  have  a  feeling  that  the  fault  of  a  good  deal  of  modern 
pottery  is  that  it  is  over-decorated — a  fault  as  bad  as  a  woman 
being  over-dressed.  It  lacks  selection  and  restraint,  and 
the  piece  is  made  an  excuse 
for  the  employment  of  decora- 
tive motifs.  The  ware,  which 
in  itself  is  beautiful,  or  should 
be,  is  so  broken  up  that  a 
busy  rococo  effect,  rather  than 
dignity  and  repose,  is  the  result, 
and  the  eye  gains  no  satis- 
faction from  the  wa-'e  itse  f 
As  a  painter  would  say,  it 
lacks  breadth. 

Stoneware,  being  fired  in  an 
open  kiln  and  to  a  veiy  high 
temperature,  is  not  adapted 
for  much  painting.  Blue  was 
the  chief  colour  used  in  the 
Flemish  ware,  but  the  palette 
has  been  extended  to  include 
celadon  and  browns  of  dif- 
ferent shades.  These  have 
to  be  painted  on  with  fluxes,  which  fuse  only  at  the  h'gh 
temperature  the  ware  is  put  to. 

The  painted  ware,  or  "  Lambeth  Faience,"  as  it  is  termed, 
is  decorated  in  the  biscuit  state,  and  afterwards  glazed  and 
fired.  'I'lie  temperature  this  ware  is  fired  to  is  much  lower 
than  stoneware,   and  the  articles  are   not  exposed  to   the 


Fig.  67. — "  Morning  "  Vase. 
By  Copeland. 


I04 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


flames,  but  are  protected  in  fire-clay  boxes.  The  palette  is 
much  more  varied,  and  the  treatment  of  the  decoration  is 
therefore  confined  to  the  work  of  the  brush  and  is  chiefly 
floral,  though  some  excellent  figure  work  is  produced.  The 
colouring  of  this  faience,  owing  to  the  warm  soft  glaze,  is 
very  harmonious. 

The  modelled  decoration  of  George  Tinworth,  John 
Broad,  and  others,  is  of  very  high  character  indeed,  and 
evinces  fine  technical   skill  and  artistic  perception.     Some 

of  the  terra-cotta  figure  work 
turned  out  for  the  decoration 
of  buildings  is  very  excellent. 
Sculptors  would  find  it  a 
most  pleasant  material  to 
work  in,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  many  of  them 
should  not  turn  their  attention 
to  architectural  modelHng, 

A  pottery  is  certainly  one 
of  the  most  interesting  hives  of 
industry  to  visit,  and  itw  who 
have  watched  a  "thrower" 
evolve  from  a  lump  of  clay  with  his  thumb  and  finger  and 
revolving  wheel  a  beautiful  shape,  have  not  wished  to  try 
their  hand  at  such  cunning  work,  in  which  high  manipula- 
tive skill  has  to  be  accompanied  by  quickness  of  eye  and  a 
rare  intuition. 

A  {t\v  years  ago  china-painting  was  the  rage,  and  almost 
every  young  lady,  whether  she  piinted  on  any  other 
material  or  not,  thought  she  could  decorate  a  china  plate. 
The  craze  died  out,  and  it  is  rare  now  to  hear  of  an  amateur 


Fig.  6S. — Holbein  Ware. 
By  Doulton  &  Co.,  Burslem. 


POTTERS  AMD  PAIXTERS. 


lo; 


painting  china.  Mr.  Thackery  Turner  told  me  that  lie  took 
up  china  painting  in  1882,  when  he  started  in  practice  as  an 
architect,  as  an  exercise  in  designing.  He  got  a  firm  at 
Burslem  to  supply  him  with  bisque  (unglazed  china),  and 
when  painted  he  got  them  to  glaze  and  fire  for  him.  Mr. 
Turner  at  first  tried  French  colours,  but  gave  them  up  for 
Staffordshire  trade  colours.  I  quite  endorse  what  he  says 
ab  nit  under-glaze  painting  having  the  quality  of  a  wet  pebble. 


Fi<^.  69. — Desinn  for  Majolica  Placjiie.     By  (i.  Roots. 
( South  ivensington.) 

but  while  it  was  easy  to  get  work  painted  in  enamels  on  the 
glaze  fired  in  London,  it  was  difficult  without  sending  to  the 
potteries  to  get  ware  glazed  and  fired,  and  amateurs,  there- 
fore, wisely  confined  their  chief  attention  to  overglaze  work. 
Considering  what  strange  crazes  the  world  takes  to,  china- 
painting  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  the  maddest.  Indeed, 
ten  years  ago  some  most  excellent  work  was  being  done  by 
amateurs. 

Speaking  from  some  years  of  exijerience  as  a  painter  ot 


io6 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


pottery,  I  can  say  that  though  there  are  many  disappoint- 
ments through  work  being  spoilt  in  the  kiln,  yet  there  are 
moments  of  exaltation  when  some  work  comes  out  par- 
ticularly successfully.  For  purely  decorative  effects,  where 
colour  enters  largely  into  play,  underglaze  work  is  far  before 
that  painted  on  the  glaze  and  fired  in  a  muffle.  Several 
potteries  on  a  small  scale  have  sprung  up  since  I  was  a 
"'prentice   han',"  in    which    the   "art"   is   very   much   eji 

evidence,  and  some  of  these 
efforts  at  getting  indivi- 
duality into  the  work  will 
in  time  bear  fruit.  But  a 
really  fine  school  of  crafts- 
manship takes  long  to 
build  up  anywhere  and  at 
any  time,  especially  in  this 
countiy,  where  to  do  every- 
thing by  machinery,  or 
some  mechanical  piocess, 
is  the  direction  advance 
makes  for.  The  painter 
of  potteiy  must  be  the 
author  of  the  design  as  well  as  the  executant  if  the  best 
results  are  to  be  reached.  That  division  into  "  designers  " 
and  "painters"  is  fatal  to  the  best  results.  The  pro- 
prietors of  potteries  should  keep  their  eyes  upon  their 
apprentices,  and  give  those  who  evince  talent  every  possible 
advantage  to  become  artists  in  their  crafts.  Theie  is  much 
more  discrimination  abroad  than  there  was  fifteen  years 
ago,  and  manufacturers  will  find  it  necessary,  on  the  purely 
economic  grounds  of  self-defence,  "to  invest  their  products 


tig.  70 


—  Persian  Painted  Tile. 
Doulton  &c  Co. 


rOTTERS  AND  PAINTERS. 


107 


with  artistic  merit  "  if  they  are  to  hold  their  position  in  the 
markets  of  the  world. 


l-ja.  -I. — TiL-  l\.\\A     (  olunibines.     By  W.  C.  Dean. 
(South  Kensinj,'ton.) 

The  majolica  pla(]iie  by  O.  Roots,  and   the  painted  tiic 
J  and  hy  W.  C.  Dean,  were  prize  designs  at  South  Kensing- 


io8 


THE    TRAINIXG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


ton.  The  latter  is  skilfully  contrived  so  that  the  square 
shape  of  the  6-in.  tiles  is  ingeniously  disguised  by  the 
pattern. 

Fig.  72,  again,  is 
cleverly  designed  to 
get  a  feeling  of  big- 
ness,    though      the 


whole  of  it  is  got  out 
of  a  6-in.  tile.  It  would 
appear  to  have  been 
suggested  by  a  Japanese 
stencil. 
One  cannot  end  this  chapter  without  reference  to  the 
work  of  the  Staffordshire  icotterles,  seeing  that  the  bulk  of 


o 

C! 
13 


g 


POTTERS  AND  PAINTERS. 


109 


the  ware  in  general  use  is  made  in  that  district.  The  illus- 
trations of  work  by  Minton,  Copeland,and  Doulton  &  Co., 
Burslem,  must  speak  for  themselves,  but  it  is  fair  to  say  that 
the  charm  of  pottery,  which  is  largely  its  colour,  is  in  no 
way  suggested  in  the  illustrations. 

The  patc-siir-pate  work  of  Mr.  Solon  is  perhaps  the  most 
distinctive  pottery  of  a  purely  artistic  character  turned  out 
there.  The  wonderful  skill  of  this  artist  ar.d  the  delicacy  of 
his  drawing  puts  Mr.  Solon's  \\o\\  far  ahead  of  most  other 
decorated  pottery.  If  I  were  to  give  a  geneial  criticism  of 
much  of  the  Staffordshire  art  pottery  it  would  be  that  a  certain 


fi^r.  jj. — Amateur's  Work,      i'.y  1  hackery  iunicr. 

decorative  fitness  is  wantirg  in  it.  A  tendency  towards  a 
highly  pictorial  treatment  should,  it  seems  to  me,  give  place 
to  a  more  ornamental  cne.  It  is  a  colour  art  more  than  any- 
thing, and  therefore  the  palette  should  be  studied  even  before 
drawing,  i.e.,  the  potter  should  become  acquainted  with  his 
colours  and  what  can  be  produced  with  them,  what  class  of 
effects  to  strive  for,  and  how  he  can  dexeloj)  the  resources 
at  his  command.  Surveying  the  craft  generally,  it  is 
apparent  that  pottery  i)ainting  lacks  distinction  by  its 
want  of  originality  in  decorating  the  work  of  the  potter's 
wheel.  An  effort  is  being  made  in  certain  directions  to 
produce  ])aiiitc(1    pottery  of  strong   individuality  and  deco- 


1  10 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


POTTERS  AND  PAINTERS.  iii 

rative  fitness — to  get  away  from  the  ''factory,"  in  fact; 
and  we  can  only  hope  that  these  efforts  will  be  crowned 
with  success. 

The  plan  in  the  potteries  of  taking  lads  as  apprentices 
for  seven  years  makes  excellent  workmen  of  those  who  are 
at  all  bent  that  way,  but  the  art  training  is  far  too  much 
neglected.  AVhat  they  learn  in  this  way  is  what  they 
pick  up  in  the  evening  in  the  school  of  art,  and  after  a 
long  day  in  a  factory  the  edge  is  much  taken  off  for  such 
routine  tuition.  What  would  be  of  much  help  and  stimulus 
would  be  instruction  by  a  skilled  potter  who  7vas  an  artist, 
and  the  painting  under  his  direction  of  original  work.  The 
life  of  the  workmen  is  almost  entirely  ignored  in  factories, 
and  from  what  I  have  heard  from  those  who  have  passed 
through  the  "potteries,"  the  factory  system  kills  the  art, 
which,  like  a  delicate  plant,  withers  away  under  this  treat- 
ment. Then,  too,  one  notices  that  under  such  a  system 
craftsmanship  always  seems  divorced  from  design,  instead 
of  the  two  developing  simultaneously,  the  one  helping  the 
other.  It  shows  into  what  a  state  our  manufactories  have 
fallen,  that  we  have  on  the  one  hand  a  race  of  mechanics 
more  or  less  skilful,  but  with  no  ideas,  and  on  the  other  a 
few  selected  individuals  who  are  specially  engaged  to  direct 
this  labour. 


CHAPTER   VIT. 


GLASS    PAINTERS. 

X  these  clays  of  interviewing  it  is  notable 
that  Alt  craftsmen  have  not  supplied 
much  copy  to  that  Autolycus  of  the 
moment,  the  journalist.  Very  mediocre 
painters  of  easel  pictures,  and  illustrators 
with  the  slenderest  cheap  talent,  have 
been  interviewed,  but  with  a  few  excep- 
tions the  workers  engaged  in  the  Art 
crafts,  such  as  glass-painting,  go  on 
doing  their  work,  and  outside  a  ^mall 
circle  are  little  known  because  they 
are  so  rarely  brought  before  the  public 
gaze.  Not  that  there  would  be  anything  gained  by  inter- 
viewing them,  in  a  society  sense,  to  discuss  their  favourite 
food  and  furniture,  the  decorations  in  thtir  drawing-rooms, 
and  their  favourite  pipes  and  pugs.  But  a  peep  at  a  few 
of  the  representative  Art  craftsmen,  who  are  forming  the 
impulses  which  will  move  those  who  come  after,  with  a 
glance  at  their  work,  what  are  their  aims,  what  their  accom- 
plishments, may  help  us  the  better  to  appreciate  thtir 
etiloits.     It  may  also  tend  to  make  our  praise  discriminating, 


Fig-  75- 

Small  AVindrm-. 

By  C.  Whall. 


GLASS  PA/XTERS.  113 

and  so  encourage  the  artist  ;  for  nothing  is  so  invigorating 
as  intelligent  appreciation,  just  as  the  applause  of  the 
ignorant  is  the  most  deadening  stimulus  he  can  receive. 

My  object,  therefore,  will  be  to  discuss  the  recent  pro- 
ductions of  a  few  of  the  more  representative  men  in  this 
ciaft,  at  the  same  time  giving,  through  the  medium  of 
illustrations,  an  idea  of  what  is  being  done  to  give  dis- 
tinction to  this  Alt  of  our  diy;  so  that  we  may  not  pass 
by  what  is  worthy  and  of  good  report  when  we  see  it. 

Modern  glass-painting  came  into  existence  within  the 
last  half-century,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  a  barrister, 
Charles  Winston.  This  writer's  book  on  the  subject  of  old 
glass  is  a  standard  work,  and  should  be  consulted  by  those 
who  wish  to  understand  why  the  glass  of  the  thirteenth  to 
the  fifteenth  centuries  is  so  much  finer  than  anything  which 
has  been  done  till  within  our  own  day  ;— for  it  is  a  mistake 
to  assume  that  no  modern  glass  equals  the  finest  old  work. 
With  our  increased  knowledge  of  chemistry  and  our  modern 
appliances,  as  we'l  as  our  power  of  drawing,  we  ought  to 
produce  better  work  than  was  possible  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  occasionally,  il  must  be  admitted,  we  do. 

What  are  tlie  cliief  (jualitics  we  look  for  in  a  painted 
window?  First,  colour.  The  most  dazzling  and  unap- 
proachable effects  of  colour  are  obtained  by  ])utting 
together  pieces  of  coloured  glass,  for  the  material  can,  by 
the  use  of  metallic  oxides,  be  tinted  to  every  rainbow  hue. 
A  window,  therefore,  might  be  likened  to  slices  of  large 
gems  put  together  as  a  mosaic  is,  with  bands  of  lead  to 
hold  the  pieces  together.  We  might  simply  lead  a 
number  of  pieces  of  coloured  glass  together  as  a  girl  sews 
patchwork,    and    thus    get    a    beautiful    palette    of   colour. 

1 


yig,  76.— Designed  by  the  late  J.  D.  Watson,  for  Messrs.  Campbell, 

Smith,  Sc  Co. 


GLASS  P-4y.V''7':A'S.  ii.S 

Some  painters  tell  us  that  a  picture  should  be  a  wondrous 
palette  of  colour,  and  that  design  or  idea  should  be  quite 
subordinate.  I  think  that  such  a  statement  holds  truer  of 
a  window  than  a  picture,  for  coloured  glass  can  be,  from 
its  transparency,  more  beautiful  than  any  pigments.  Now 
let  us  look  at  the  average  windows  we  see  in  churches,  and 
\iewing  them  merely  as  colour  see  how  they  stand  criticism. 
A  large  number  of  sucli  windows  are  too  heavy  in  key,  too 
little  white  or  tinted  white  glass  being  employed.  This  is 
bad  in  two  ways,  bad  in  itsc-lf  and  bad  for  the  building, 
because  such  heavy  windows  prevent  the  proper  amount  of 
light  entering,  producing  not  a  "dim  religious  light,"  but 
darkness,  making  nothing  visible.  An  interesting  church 
like  St.  Helen's,  Bishopsgate,  is  spoilt  by  the  heaviness  of 
the  windows.  They  are  all  coloured,  so  that  on  the  ordi- 
nary days  of  the  City  very  little  is  clearly  discernible  ,  and 
the  beautiful  and  interesting  tombs  cannot  be  properly 
appreciated  in  such  obscurity.  The  object  of  a  window  is 
to  admit  light — there  can  be  no  (juestion  about  that;  and 
though  it  is  a  great  gain  to  a  church  to  have  the  1  ght  modi- 
fied and  warmed  h\  passing  through  tinted  glass,  with  richer- 
coloured  glass  to  give  glow  and  accent,  the  primary  object 
of  a  window  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  namely,  to  admit  light. 
Not  only  may  a  window  be  too  dark  from  the  excess  of 
coloured  glass  in  it,  but  also  from  the  amount  of  i)aint  upon 
the  glass ;  as  in  the  case  of  the  celebrated  windows  which 
Reynolds  designed  for  New  College,  Oxford.  Here  no 
coloured  glass  is  used,  but  the  effjct  of  an  oil  painting  is 
attempted,  all  brilHani  y  being  lost  in  the  mistaken  effort, 
and  the  absence  of  the  gem-like  quality,  specially  acceptable 
in  stained  glass,  is  therefore  painfully  felt. 


ii6 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


This  brings  us  to  the  next  consideration  :  the  design  of  a 
window.  In  church  windows  symboHsm  largely  regulates 
the  design,  but  that  aspect  of  the  question  is  outside  my 


41 


\ 


« 


Vi/ 


i''f^-  77-      i^iinels  of  Cila^s  !>h()\vinj,'  the  effect  oblaiiit-d  h\  use  ol 
Coloured  (Hass  and  l^cads  onlv.     Bv  Messrs.  (iuthrie,  of  Glasgow. 


present  purpose.  The  only  point  which  concerns  us  here 
is,  how  far  should  the  design  be  regulated  by  the  limitations 
imposed  by  the  craft  itself.?     If  we  have  to  put  our  windows 


GLASS  PAINTERS. 


117 


together  like  a  mosaic  by  the  use  of  "  leads,''  it  is  obvious 
that  our  design  should  be  greatly 
influenced  by  the  leading,  and  in 
all  well -schemed  windows  the 
design  is  largely  outlined  by  these 
leids,  as  a  reference  to  any  of  the 
examples  given  will  demonstrate. 
There  are  some  leads  which  are 
employed  merely  of  necessity, 
owing  to  the  impossibility  of  cut- 
ting glass  into  very  complicated 
shapes;  but  these  maybe  ignored, 
as  they  do  not  interfere  with  our 
principle, .  namely,  that  the  leads 
should  so  far  as  practicable  outline 
the  design.  The  design  should, 
therefore,  be  simple  and  sculptu- 
resque ;  a  large  style  of  design 
should  be  chosen,  and  the  atten- 
tion should  not  be  dissipated  by  a 
wealth  of  trivialities. 

A  good  instance  of  how  skil- 
fully the  leads  can  be  used  in  a 
design  is  seen  in  the  music  al  sub- 
ject drawn  by  the  late  J.  I). 
Watson  (Fig.  76)  Here  the  design 
is  influenced  all  through  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  craft,  and  yet 
there  is  a  most  successful  union 
between  the  craft  and  the  design — 
an  ideal  marriage  ;  for  the  very  limitations  imposed  on  the 


J,.  78.--' Charity.'  One 
of  the  Three  Lights  of 
a  V\'iiul()\v  in  (liiist 
Church,  Oxford.  De- 
signed by  Sir  E.  Burne- 
jones,  and  executetl  by 
Morris  &  Co. 


ilS 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


designer  have  been  accepted  frankly,  and  turned  to 
account.  This  window  was  executed  by  Messrs.  Campbell 
Smith  &  Co. 

In  the  filling  of  the  lights  of  the  window  (Fig.  77),  Messrs. 
Ciuthrie,  of  Glasgow,  have  shown  how  much  cm  be  done 


F'R-  79- — P'li''  of  '^  Window.     By  Louis  Davis. 

with  merely  leading  and  the  selection  of  beautiful  glass,  no 
painting  being  done  on  the  glass  itself.  By  selecting  choice 
specimens  of  coloured  glass  for  the  "accents,"  and  skilful 
use  of  leads,  much  more  may  be  done  than  most  glass 
stainers  are  aware  of. 

A  third  consideration  in  judging  a  window   is   that  of 
style  ;  and  here  I  am  likely  to  tread  on  many  tender  places, 


GLASS  PAINTERS 


"9 


as  more  modern  glass  has  been  spoi't  by  a  slavish  adherence 
to  antiquarianism  than  anything  else.     A  thirteenth-century 
monk,  when    he   fashioned    a   window   for   his   monastery 
chapel,    expresseil    himself  as    fully   as    his    means   would 
allow.     He  probably  never  drew  directly  Irom  a  model,  but 
evolved  his  figures  from  his  recollection. 
This  monk  was  a  beginner,  and  he  had 
not   museums   of  examples  and    photo- 
graphs  of   other  contemporary  wo;k  to 
guide  and  help  him.     He  was  a  pioneer 
journeying     alone     in       an      unkrown 
country,  and   what   wonder,  thercfdre,  if 
much  that    he   did   was  like   a   learner's 
woik?     His    implements    also    were    of 
the  simplest.     The  use  of  tlie  diamond 
for  cutting  glass   was  unknown    in    the 
early  days  of  glass  painting,  and   he  had 
to   shape  h's  piece  of  glass   with  a  hot 
iron — a  clumsy   and    ui. certain  mediod. 
Hut  when  all  is   said   there    can  be  no 
question  that  this  monkish  artist  lived  up 
to   the  knowledge  of  his   time,  and   his 
work  was  only  limited  by  his  conditions  ; 
he  dill  not  wilfully  impose  limits  upon 
himself.      What  shall  we  say,    then  fore, 
to  those  among  us  who  ignore  the   ad- 
vantages we  possess — our  facilities,  our 
power  of  drawing,  our  ext<.nded  palette,  and  who  i)roduce 
lifeless  imitations  of  old  work — the  letter  without  the  spiiit 
of  the  work  they  imitate,  for  those  who  follow  others  must 
always  be  behind — and  then   call  their  manufacture   "  thir- 


k. 

3lu\ 

i^^^3 

K 

r&^ 

c^3 

%^^K 

rn 

'ail  WP^-^^Je^ 

bi.1.  8().  Ijovs 
Sint;iim.  Part 
of  a  Window  by 
Louis  Davis. 


I20 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


teenth  or  fourteenth  century  glass,"  as  though  so  labelled 
made  it  good  per  se  /  What  we  do  should  be  nineteenth 
century,  and  I  honour  those  men  who  have  refused  to  pro- 
duce archaic  glass  because  the  architect  or  donor  of  the 
window  wished  it,  but  have  exhibited  in  their  craft  know- 
ledge, and  that  individuality  or  character  which  is  after  all, 

as  I  have  elsewhere  insisted,  "style." 
\Vhen  the  art  of  glass  painting  was 
revived,  it  was  not  surprising  that  to 
reproduce  some  of  the  best  old  win- 
dows was  the  only  way  to  learn  how 
to  paint  glass ;  but  that  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  go  on  after  forty 
years  turning  out  modern  old  glass. 
Those  acquainted  with  the  glass  m 
Oxford  can  see  in  Keble  College 
Chapel  windows  of  the  archaic  pat- 
tern ;  and  in  Christ  Church  glass 
which  is,  in  the  best  sense,  up-to- 
date.  The  former  is  manufacture, 
utterly  uninteresting  and  wanting  in 
beauty.  In  the  Cathedral  there  is 
glass  full  of  character  and  beauty, 
excellent  in  craftsmanship  and  design. 
I  give  a  small  reproduction  of  "  Charity,"  Fig.  78,  one  of 
three-light  windows  designed  by  Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones 
and  executed  by  Morris  &  Co.,  whose  glass  gives  the  Cathe- 
dral great  distinction. 

All  the  Art  crafts  have  suffered  from  manufacture.  The 
individual  is  lost  sight  of  in  the  "firm,"  just  as  though  Art 
could  be  produced  by  a  Co. !     The  men  who  do  the  work 


Fig.  8 r.  — Study. 
By  Louis  Davis. 


GLASS  PAL\7ERS. 


121 


Ki},'.  82.  —  Life   Study  for  Cartoon 
of  a  Window.     By  C.  Wiiall. 


Fig.  83. — Finished  Cartoon 
for  a  Window.  By  C. 
Whall. 


122 


THE    TR  A  LYING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


are  "hands,"  and  the  designers  "cartoonists,"'  who  have 
just  sufficient  knowledge  to  draw  conventional  figures  of 
saints  after  well-recognised  patterns.  It  not  infrequendy 
happens  that   the   "firm"  does  not  have  a  fresh  cartoon 

made  for  each  window 
executed,  but  a  head  is 
taken,  say,  from  St.  Mark 
and  put  on  the  body  of 
St.  Luke;  and  by  "fakes" 
of  this  nature  a  new  design 
is  the  result,  thereby  savirg 
money  to  the  "  firm,"  an 
ever-important  considera- 
tion. The  colouring  of 
the  window  is  either  done 
in  a  purely  arbitrary  man- 
ner, or  is  left  to  the  glazier, 
who,  I  am  bound  to  admit, 
does  not  always  do  it  as 
badly  as  might  be. 

Mr.  C.  Whall  showed 
me  a  plan  he  adopts  of 
making  a  small  test  win- 
dow by  sticking  small 
pieces  of  the  glass  he 
thinks  of  using  in  his 
actual    window    on    to    a 


Fig.  {'4. — Part  of  Window, 
iiv  C.  Whall. 


sheet  of  plate-glass,  so  that  some  idea  of  the  colour  effect 
can  be  obtained.  But  then  Mr.  Whall  is  an  "artist"  in 
stained  glass,  and  net  only  draws  his  own  cartoons,  but 
chooses    all   the   glass,   and    does    much   of    the   painting 


GLASS   PAINTERS.  123 

himself.  Here  art  is  not  divorced  from  craftsmanship,  ai  d 
made  into  a  manufacture  ;  and  no  good  work  can  ever 
be  produced  where  the  Art  is  lost  sight  of,  and  individuality 
merged  in  a  company. 


Fig.  <S5. — Window  lor  a  Library.     By  Henry  Ryland. 

The  drawing  of  a  figure  for  a  window  should  he  as  good 
as  though  it  were  f()r  a  picture  ;  and  as  has  already  been 
said,  only  to  wilfully  reproduce  the  ignorance  of  a  meiliiuval 
m^nk  is  to  exhibit  a  shallow,  misplaced  veneration.     But 


\i- ,.  *w 


the  effects  which  a 
painter  might  legiti- 
mately strive  for  are 
not  necessarily  those 
which  exhibit  the  art 
of  the  glass  painter  to 
the  greatest  advantage. 
He  must  realise  that 
glass  is  not  canvas, 
and  that  nothing  must 
be  attempted  which 
destroys  the  brilliancy 
of  his  material.  The 
less  paint  that  is  put 
on  the  glass  the  better 
(by  paint  I,  of  course, 
mean  vitreous  colours 
which  require  to  be 
burnt  on  to  the  glass 
to  make  them  perma- 
nent), and  complicated 
actions  necessitating 
subtle  foreshortening 
should  not  be  at- 
tempted, for  this  de- 
mands complicated 
chiaroscuro.  An  arm, 
for  instance,  held  out 
towards  one  could  not 
be  adequately  rendered 
in    glass.      A    certain 


Fig.   86. — From   the   Cartoon  by  Walter 
Crane. 


GLASS  PAINTERS.  125 

severity  and  restraint  must  keep  the  glass  painter  in  check  ; 
in  other  words,  his  work  must  be  conditioned  by  his 
opportunities. 

The  figure  of  "Charity"  (Fig.  78)  is,  as  I  have  said,  one 
of  three  in  a  window  at  the  north  end  of  the  north  aisle  of 
the  cathedral  at  Oxford.  The  window  is  richly  coloured, 
as  light  was  not  specially  wanted  from  this  window.  The 
background  is  composed  of  foliage,  and  throws  into  relief 
the  figures,  but  much  is  lost  in  the  reproduction. 

The  large  windows  by  the  same  artists  in  the  east  end  of 
the  building  have  much  white  glass,  which  is  very  skilfully 
employed,  so  that  a  due  amount  of  light  is  admitted. 

The  name  of  Mr.  Louis  Davis  is  familiar  to  those  who 
follow  the  progress  of  decorative  art  in  this  country,  and 
the  portions  of  three  windows  executed  by  him  (Figs.  79, 
80,  and  81)  here  given  speak  for  his  ability  as  a  designer 
for  stained  glass.  Mr.  Davis  is  particularly  happy  in  his 
rendering  of  children,  and  the  window  of  boys  singing 
praises  is  as  beautiful  as  anything  executed  in  any  age  or 
country.  The  drawing  is  refined  and  scholarly,  and  is 
withal  restrained,  to  fit  it  for  its  particular  interpretation. 

The  reproduction  of  a  cartoon  for  a  window  recently 
executed  by  Mr.  C.  ^Vhall  (Fig.  83),  as  well  as  the  study 
from  life  for  the  same  (  Fig.  82),  show  that  in  his  hands  the 
craftsman  and  the  artist  are  one.  Mr.  Whall  takes  great 
trouble  in  selecting  his  glass,  and  he  adopts  the  excellent 
plan  of  making  "  jjalettes"  of  colour,  as  I  have  before  men- 
tioned, to  gauge  the  effect  of  the  window  before  it  is  carried 
out — a  very  different  order  of  things  to  that  which  existed 
when  I  became  a  glass  painter. 

A  good  cartoon  should  be  "glassy"  from  its  first  incci)- 


i:6 


THE    -JRAIXIXG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


I-ig.  ^7. —  From  the  Glass  by  Walter  Crane. 
EKecuted  by  Mr.  Sjjarrow. 


GLASS  PAINTERS.  127 

tion.  It  is  quite  wrong  to  draw  a  window  as  you  would  an 
illustration,  and  then  put  the  lead  lines  round  it.  The  lead 
lines  should  largely  condition  the  design,  Madox  Brown 
was  the  first  artist  in  this  century  to  realise  this. 

Mr.  Henry  Ryland  is  better  known  for  his  black-and- 
white  work  than  for  his  purely  decorative  designing,  but  his 
window  for  a  library  (Fig.  85)  exhibits  his  feeling  for  stained 
glass  and  his  recognition  of  the  necessities  demanded  by  the 
craft.  No  strong  colour  is  used,  tinted  whites  and  pale 
tones  alone  being  employed. 

Two  illustrations  are  given  of  windows  designed  by  Walter 
Crane  and  executed  by  Mr.  Sparrow,  for  I  hold  that  the 
student  cannot  have  too  many  examples  before  him,  pro- 
vided they  be  good,  as  by  this  means  he  escapes  the  liability 
of  falling  into  mannerism  by  being  too  much  influenced  by  the 
work  of  one  man.  The  cartoon  by  H.  Ospovat  (Fig.  88)  is 
one  which  took  a  prize  at  South  Kensington  in  1896.  It  shows 
that  the  author  has  realised  the  necessities  to  be  observed. 

In  the  chapter  on  "Women's  \\'ork "  I  have  drawn 
attention  to  a  particular  make  of  glass  which  gives  great 
"value  "to  a  window  owing  to  its  thickness.  This  thick 
glass  prevents  a  window  looking  poor  or  papery  where 
much  white  or  light  glass  is  employed,  and  unless  a  window 
has  a  fair  proportion  of  light  glass  in  it,  it  not  only  keeps 
out  light,  but  the  requisite  foil  to  the  coloured  glass  is 
wanting.  There  is  as  much  skill  shown  in  the  use  of  light 
and  white  glass  in  a  window  as  there  is  in  selecting  tlic 
coloured  portions.  If  glass  is  very  thin  it  has  a  poor 
appearance  when  up,  especially  in  the  light  parts,  for  the 
coloured  ])orlions  are  then  in  too  strong  opposition  to  the 
rest    of    the   window.     Some    very   beautilul    glass    is    now 


128 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


made,  for  much  attention  has  been  devoted  to  this  part  of 
the  work  during  the  last  ten  years,  and  a  glass  painter 
should  bestow  the  greatest  attention  upon  getting  the  best 

material,  for  this  is  more  than 
half  the  battle  in  a  successful 
window.  I  am  told  that  some 
American  firms  have  bestowed 
even  more  attention  to  the  make 
of  glass  than  we  have,  notably 
Messrs.  Tiffany,  of  New  York, 
for  they  have  had  pieces  made 
specially  for  particular  portions 
of  a  window.  The  result,  if 
artistically  done,  ought  to  be 
veiy  fine. 

If  any  impression  is  left  upon 
the  mind  by  a  glance  at  the  work 
it  has  been  my  privilege  to  bring 
before  my  readers,  it  is  that  a 
new  spirit  is  abroad  which  is 
stimulating  the  men  of  to-day  to 
put  into  their  work  Art  in  place 
of  tradition,  and  thought  in 
place  of  convention ;  that  in 
their  hands  such  a  craft  as  that 
of  glass-painting  is  likely  to  be 
carried  further  than  we  have 
seen,  and  that  windows  will  be 
painted  which,  for  their  beauty,  will  be  a  joy  for  ever.  And 
I  would  urge  the  clergy  and  all  those  who  have  the  influence 
in   these  matters  to   look  round,  take   note  of  those  men 


Fig.  88. —  Cartoon  for  (ilass. 
By  H.  O^povat. 


J3 


&4 


o 

tJt) 


tJO 


rt 
1) 


^  rt 


o 


^ 

"u 


K 


i;o 


THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


working  as  artists  and  not  mechanics,  and   bestow  upon 

them  the  patronage  good  work 
deserves.  Fa'.main  qui  viennt 
feraf,  which  means  thnt  the 
patron  should  look  out  for  the 
capable  men  when  thty  are 
spending  money  on  a  stained- 
glass  window,  for  instance, 
and  see  that  what  they  are 
instrumental  in  putting  into 
the  church  is  worthy  and  of 
good  report.  Nothing  is  so 
discouraging  as  for  the  earnest 
worker  to  be  left  idle  while 
the  charlatan  or  mechanic  is 
well  employed.  Many  men 
will  give  from  ^500  to  ^1,000 
for  a  portrait  of  themselves, 
and  think  that  ;^ioo  quite 
enough  to  provide  a  painted 
window,    though    the    cost    of 

production  in  the  latter  case  is  many,  many  times  what  the 

painter  has  to  ?pend  on  canvas  and  colours. 


Fig.  90.— Stained  Glass  Fauel 

in  Door  of  Main  Cabin. 

By  G.   C.   Haite,  R.B.A. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


WOOD   CARVERS. 

"  Lcam  of  sculptor,  painter,  poet, 
Take  this  lesson  to  thy  heart : 
That  is  best  which  lieth  nearest, 
Carve  from  that  thy  work  of  art." 

Longfellow. 

AN  is  a  tool-using  animal  "^"  Sartor  Resartus." 
That  being  so,  it  is  natural  that  wood-carving 
has  always  been  a  popular  craft  with  amateurs, 
and  one  that  played  an  important  rule  among  the  Art  crafts 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  those  glorious  days  for  the  "cunning" 
worker  in  wood,  metal,  and  stone.  But  it  is  weariness  and 
weakness  to  whimper  over  the  days  that  are  no  more,  so  let 
us  take  a  brief  survey  of  this  craft  of  wood-carving  as  it 
exhibits  itself  to  us  now.  Nor  is  it  any  use  going  back  to 
the  thirteenth  century  for  our  inspiration,  and  become  slavish 
reproducers  of  the  work  of  that  and  the  following  century. 
I  hold  strongly  that  what  we  have  to  do  is  to  make  the  best 
use  of  each  moment  as  it  goes  by,  for  any  attempt  to  return 
to  the  past,  and  so  lose  touch  of  the  present,  is  in  the 
long  rim  putting  the  hands  of  the  clock  back.  Much  as  I 
respect  Morris  and  acknowledge  the  influence  he  so  benefi- 
cially exerted  on  the  crafts  of  the  day,  1  cannot  but  help 
feeling  that  in  his  printed  books  he  ma'le  the  initial  mistake 


132  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

of  ignoring  the  zcilgeist.  Had  he  brought  his  genius  to 
bear  upon  the  foniiat  of  books,  he  might  have  levelled 
up  the  art  of  printing  so  that  all  woulH  have  benefited, 
whereas  by  reproducing  books  in  the  style  of  the  fifteenth 
century  we  can  only  view  h's  efforts  as  interesting  exj^eri- 
nients  lying  quite  outside  the  march  of  mankind. 

Wood  carving  suffers  much  from  the  heavy  hand  of  the 
past,  which  presses  upon  the  work  of  to-day  and  robs  it  of 
vitality.  This  is  especially  true  of  ecclesi^tStical  carving, 
which  always  has  to  be  in  some  "  st)le."  originality  being 
the  last  (quality  desired.  In  the  carving  in  a  church  how 
much  more  interesting  would  be  the  result  if,  say,  a  dozen 
craftsmen  were  turned  loose,  each  to  work  out  his  artistic 
salvation,  so  to  say,  there  ;  instead  of  some  "  Master "  or 
church  furnisher  taking  on  the  job  and  employing  a 
designer  to  make  the  drawings  and  so  many  "hands  "  at  so 
much  an  hour  to  do  the  work,  the  profit  and  the  kudos  going 
to  the  firm. 

If  those  who  spend  money  on  churches  would  try  to  be 
as  artistic  as  they  are  pious,  and  see  that  their  money  is 
spent  to  some  worthy  end  in  securing  original  work  by 
capable  craftsmen,  how  much  gain  would  accrue  !  Our 
churches  might  then  be  living  temples  instead  of  crystallisa- 
tions of  the  past  or  receptacles  of  "  furniture  "  art. 

I  was  much  struck,  at  the  last  Arts  and  Crafts  Exhibition, 
at  some  carved  pew  ends  in  low  relief  by  Mr.  H.  A\'ilson. 
They  were  in  perfect  harmony  and  yet  distinctly  of  to-day, 
the  work  of  a  man  who  had  his  own  outlook,  who  could 
learn  of  the  past  and  yet  be  of  the  present. 

It  is  the  dead  uniformity  of  modern  church  work — "  the 
No,  6,  page  99  of  'our'  catalogue" — which  so   dulls  the 


WOOD    CARVERS. 


133 


'34 


THE    IRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


senses  of  the  beholder  and  makes  him  pass  by  unheeding 
instead  of  enjoying  the  "joy  of  the  working."  Consideiing 
what  an  important  patron  the  church  still  is,  it  grieves 
one  to  see  the  lamentable  waste  of  money  in  purchasing 
work  which,  as  art,  is  valueless.  Ecclesiastical  correctness 
(Avhatever  that  may  mean)  is  thought  more  of  than  imagina- 
tion and  skilful  originality.  'J'he  late  J.  D.  Sedding  set  a 
good  example  by  seeking  out  clever  painters  and  sculptors 
and  craftsmen  to  enrich  the  fabric  he  designed. 

Lei  us  hear  what  wood-carvers  have  to  say  touching  their 


•^'i(^t?'*f'-:5iftii.<'->J,: 


'  ,.^ 


I .  ."■•  'I 


Fi^.  92. — Carved  Panel.     By  W.  Aumonier. 

work,  and  the  patr^iage  extended  to  them,  and  I  think  I 
cannot  do  better  than  turn  to  a  symposium  of  craftsmen 
who  addressed  a  meeting  of  tlie  Royal  Institute  of  British 
Architects  early  this  year,  and  give  the  gist  of  what  Messrs. 
Romaine- Walker,  W.  Aumonier,  J.  E.  Knox,  and  W.  S. 
Erith  had  to  tell  their  audience  of  architects,  who  are,  of 
necessity,  brought  much  in  contact  with  w^ood-carvers. 

Mr.  Romaine-Walker  represented  the  architect-patron, 
and  he  touched  the  keynote  when  he  said  :  "  Woodcarving, 
being  an  art,  the  very  nature  of  which  brings  it  within 
the  reach  of  the  million,  and,  as  it  were,  into   their  daily 


WOOD    CARVERS. 


135 


life,  has  been,  perhaps,  the  first  to  suffer  from  over-produc- 
tion, and  consequent  decline.     The  mind  of  the  public  has 


V        i-»0-         S  -jm 


^. 


> 


^*<S»*.-« 


a* 


Z^.  '"=i^.' 


>;^^. 


y^r. 


X  7-i 


St;, 


•>*^'- 


?lr^ 


rA   - 


■/- 


1^  '  '  ^   ' 


'»* ' 


U- 


]-"ig.  93. — Panel  (loi^iud  and  carved  li\    W.  1!.  ( ii  iinwood,  Instructor 
to  the-  Scliool  of  Art  \\'ood-carving. 

become    vitiated    by  the   vulgar   and    unmeaning    mass   of 
bastard  enrichment  overloading  the  so-called  Art  fiu-niture, 


136  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

only  too  often  exposed  for  sale  in  shops,  and  praised  by  the 
employe's,  who  affect  a  critical  faculty  entirely  foreign  to 
their  nature  and  bringing-up.  To  the  vast  majority  of 
mankind  these  vacuous  salesmen  are  the  oracles  of  public 
taste ;  it  therefore  follows  that  much  of  the  delicacy  of 
perception  which  our  forefathers  possessed  has  been  lost." 
And  when  the  speaker  had  to  refer  to  the  relations  which 
should  exist  between  architect  and  carver,  he  laid  it  down 
as  a  principle  that,  while  directing  and  supervising  the 
work,  he  should,  like  the  playwtight,  after  having  painted 
in  words  the  lesson  or  impression  he  wishes  to  convey, 
leave  the  exponent  of  his  thoughts  certain  liberty  of  action, 
else  will  he  take  from  the  executed  work  its  soul,  and 
leave  it  but  a  lifeless  production.  Under  the  influence  of 
the  Gothic  architects  wood-carving  was  the  handmaid  of 
architecture. 

It  is  a  pity  that  this  just  principle  should  not  influence 
architects  more  than  it  does  in  their  treatment  of  their 
"handmaids."  There  is  such  a  slavish  adherence  to  prece- 
dent on  the  part  of  many  architects,  which  makes  them  tie 
down  the  craftsman  until  his  ego  is  squeezed  out  of  him. 
I  am  reminded  that  I  walked  into  Keble  College  chapel  the 
other  day,  to  look  again  at  the  decoration,  and  if  the 
architect  takes  the  responsibility  for  the  hideous  painted 
windows  and  mosaic  panels,  he  has  taken  upon  himself  an 
Atlas  load  indeed ! 

Mr.  Aumonier,  the  next  speaker,  referred  to  the  way  the 
wood-carver  in  the  past  was  evolved  out  of  the  village 
carpenter,  as  is  seen  in  the  "  choppy,  vigorous  cut  of  the 
Chester  and  Ambrosio  work  at  Milan,  the  carver  having 
only  just  emerged  from  the  use  of  the  chisel  proper  to  take 


JIOGD    CARVERS. 


m 


up  the  carver's  gouge."  Wood-carving  should  not  be  made 
to  represent  marble,  bronze,  silver,  or  any  other  material, 
for,  by  the  very  individuality  of  its  treatment,  it  may  attain 
a  charm  and  beauty  equal  to  that  of  almost  any  substance 
the  hand  of  man  can  fashion.  "  To  this  end  we  want  it  cut 
by  a  strong  man  fully  alive  to  the  capabilities  and  suscepti- 
bilities of  his  material.  If  he  is  a  good  workman,  he  will 
combine  freshness  and  grace ;  freshness  because  the  work 
grows  under  his  own  hand,  showing  the  cuts  and  gouge- 


Fig.  94. — Carved  Panel.     By  George  Jack 


maiks  in  it  freely  and  fearlessly  to  the  last,  to  mark  for  ever 
the  secret  of  its  birth  like  the  last  strokes  of  the  painter's 
brush  ;  grace,  because  there  is  no  form  the  artistic  mind  can 
conceive  but  may  be  obtained  in  wood,  if  honestly  sought 
after." 

'I'his  carver's  word  to  architects  is  "  to  treat  their  carver 
as  a  brother  artist  or  craftsman,  in  sympathy  with  the  work 
in  hand,  called  in  to  give  artistic  finish  to  new  buildings, 
and  not  as  a  person  out  of  whom  is  to  be  screwed  as  much 


138 


THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFISMAN. 


work  a,s  possible,  for  as  small  an  amount  of  money  as  the 
carver  will  allow  his  patrons  to  give  him." 

Mr.  W.  Aumonier  was  apprenticed  to  a  firm  of  furniture 
manufacturers  and  general  decorators,  the  foreman  of  the 
wood-carvers  being  Mr.  Mark  Rogers,  '-one  of  the  most 
skilful  and  artistic  carvers  we  have  had  in  modern  times." 
Then    he    worked    with    a    Belgian    sculptor    settled    in 


r.'i 


if 

rf  i 

■  t 

,T       ! 

ilf 

,'!      ■■- 

A  '• 

i 

\  ■•  . 
!  <  f 

>-  * 
* 

/ 


^>, 


Fi<^.  95. — Central  Panel  in  Italian  \\'aliiut.     By  CTeor<;e  Jack. 

Westminster,  and  after  that  in  Paris,  woiking  in  both  wood 
and  stone,  and  for  six  months  on  the  restoration  of  Amiens 
Cathedral,  under  M.  Viollet  le  Due.  This  gave  our  crafts- 
man a  decided  penchant  for  architectural  work,  as  distinct 
from  mere  cabinet  carving,  and  the  stone  carving  of  such 
buildings  as  the  new  municipal  offices  at  Oxford  is  as 
important  a  part  of  this  craftsman's  work  as  the  wood- 
carving  he  executed  for  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.     Mr.  Aumonier 


WOOD   CARVERS. 


«39 


roughs  out  the  designs  in  charcoal  for  his  craftsmen,  leaving 
the  interpretation  to  them,  and  he  much  deprecates  not 
only  the  waste  of  money  caused  by  modellinj:;  the  designs 
previous  to  carving  them 
in  wood,  but  the  tendency 
to  make  the  carver  me- 
chanical, a  mere  imitating 
machine  instead  of  an 
artist.  His  method  of 
study  has  been  to  go 
direct  to  old  work,  sketch- 
ing it  for  himself  so  as  to 
feel  the  spirit  of  the  old 
craftsman,  and  not  to  rely 
upon  books  of  examples 
drawn  by  other  men  ; 
very  sensible  advice,  I 
take  it,  and  equivalent  to 
the  drawing  from  nature 
instead  of  from  copies. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Knox  said 
that  his  craft  had  been 
stri\ing  during  the  last 
thirty  years  to  raise  itself 
above  the  cabinet  and 
upholstery  incubus  under 
which  it  had  fallen  for 
many  generations,  and 
efforts  have  been  made  by  the  establishment  of  the  British 
Wood-Carvers'  Society — a  body  of  craftsmen  far  too  little 
known  by  kindred  societies — to  regain  the  position  wood- 


I'ig.  y6. — Uui  Lady  ol  the  Kuod. 
By  HariT  Hems. 


MO  THE    TRAIXIXG    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

carving  held  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 
"  Wood-carving  is  an  absorbing,  fascinating,  but  a  time- 
taking  occupation,  and  the  results  of  his  labour  are,  as  a 
rule,  gratifying  to  the  executant,  whatever  his  architect  or 
client  may  subsequently  think  of  his  work." 

The  speaker  went  on  to  say  that  it  was  by  studying  the 
work  in  some  of  our  cathedrals  and  old  churches  that  he 
liberated  himself  from  a  certain  petty  egotism  from  which 
he  suffered  at  the  outset  of  his  career.  "I  carved  birds, 
flowers,  miniature  figures  and  many  pretty  things  besides, 
and  although  greatly  admired,  no  one  wanted  to  buy  them.'' 

The  choppiness  of  late  fifteenth-century  work,  Mr.  Knox 
said,  was  a  powerful  influence  in  his  development,  for  he 
admired  the  gee  in  this  style  of  carving,  and  the  apparent 
fact  that  the  carveis  knew  when  they  had  done  enough  to 
their  work.  As  examples  for  the  wood-carver  to  study,  this 
craftsman  gives  the  following  : — 

Xonnan  Zigzag,  Rocliester  Cathedral. 

Early  English,  nth  and    I2lh  Centuries,  Choir,  Westminster 

Abbey. 
Decorated,  f3th  and    14th  Centuries,  Lady  Chapel,  Ely,  and 

Choir,  York  Minster. 
Perpendicular,    14th    and    15th    Centuries,    King's    College, 

Cambridge. 
Tudor,  1550  to  1600,  Thornbury  Castle,  Gloucester. 
Jacobean,  1600  to  1650,  Longleat  House,  Wilts. 

Mr.  Knox  is  one  instance,  out  of  many,  of  a  craftsman 
of  deservedly  high  reputation,  who  woiked  into  art  for 
himself  and  in  spite  of  most  adverse  circumstances,  for 
being  left  an  orphan,  when  1  arely  nine  years  old,  he 
obtained  a  berth  at  a  West-end  cabinet  fiim  to  glasspaper 
up  carvings  and  run  errands.     The  hours  were  from  seven 


WOOD   CARVERS. 


141 


till  seven,  but  in   spite  of  this  the  young  enthusiast  took 
possession  of  a  disused  attic,  got  a  few  tools,  and  rigged  up 


^^ri 


\ 


<■.. 


^.'; 

t 

^ 

o 

Sic 


o 


-a 

> 

u 


o 

g 


I  ON 

_tJO 


a  bench  in  ordtr  to  attain  his  anibiiion  of  beconiirg  a  wood- 
carver.     He  became  sufficiently  proficient  to  be  taken,  at 


142 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


the  age  of  fourteen,  by  the  master  carver  as  an  apprentice 
without  premium  and  with  the  wages  he  was  receiving  as 
errand  boy;  and  when  out  of  his  time  worked  for  seven 
years  for  Mr.  Thomas  Earp,  the  architectural  sculptor,  and 
it  is  Mr.  Knox's  advice  to  would-be  carvers  to  be  apprenticed 
to  an  architectural  carver  rather  than  to  a  cabinet  firm. 


Fig.  98. — Cluclv  Case  iu  Clicsliiul  Woud.     By  Mark  Rogers. 

Having  worked  for  some  of  the  leading  architects,  Mr. 
Knox  attributes  the  progress  in  decorative  art  during  the 
last  thirty  years  to  that  brilliant  band  of  young  architects 
who,  when  he  was  a  young  man,  struggled  so  manfully  to 
elevate  public  taste  in  matters  architectural. 


WOOD   CARVERS. 


M3 


Mr.  W.  S.  Frith  also  laments  the  want  of  discriminating 
patronage  denied  the  wood  carver.  "It  is  a  Httle  difficult 
to  understand  in  these  days,"  he  says,  "  that  there  seems 


Vvg.  99. — Panel  al  back  of  the  Bishop's  Tliione,  St.  Paul's  C'athcdial. 
Carved  hv  \V.  Aiimoiiiei'. 


little  demand  for  choice  wood-carving  beyond  the  folinge 
order  ;  no  doubt  this  is  in  great  part  due  to  the  fact  that 
wood  sculpture  does  not  conveniently  lend  itself  to  produc- 


144  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

tion  from  the  clay  modelling  point  of  view,  from  which 
most  sculptors,  both  here  and  abroad,  are  trained." 

All  the  speakers  were  agreed  that  wood-carving  should 
never  be  a  copy  of  a  modelled  design,  for  there  is  required 
an  essential  treatment  of  the  wood,  which  riiakes  wooil- 
carving  differ  from  other  crafts.  "  While  oak  is  the  princi- 
pal wood  for  carving,  others  have  to  be  considered  ;  and  if 
the  treatment  of  oak  were,  for  instance,  applied  to  satin- 
wood,  the  result  would  be  to  make  the  satin-wood  look  very 
much  like  pine.  In  this  case  the  work  looks  most  precious 
when  it  is  so  designed  and  carved  as  to  permit  the  opalescent 
quality  of  the  wood  to  sing  through  the  carving." 

All  the  speakers  again  were  agreed  as  to  marks  of  the 
tool  showing,  and  that  to  get  the  finish  of  carton-pierrc  was 
destructive  of  the  finest  qualities  in  wood-carving.  In  Mr. 
Frith's  words,  "  the  question  of  how  far  the  cutting  of  the 
wood  should  be  evident — as  a  general  rule,  figure  form  is 
most  satisfactory  with  the  tool  marks  invisible;  since  the 
form  is  the  essential,  not  the  manner  of  producing  it :  and 
this  rule  necessarily  applies  wherever  exact  form  is  desired. 
The  clear  cut,  however,  best  displays  the  quaUty  of  the 
material,  the  mastery  of  the  craftsman,  and  his  delight  in 
his  work,  and  makes  that  in  which  the  dexterous  use  of  the 
tool  can  be  traced  one  of  the  most  charming  phases  of 
wood-carving." 

In  these  remarks  of  eminent  craftsmen  may  be  gleaned 
the  Sophia  as  opposed  to  the  Moria,  as  Ruskin  would  say, 
of  the  art.  On  that  crucial  question  of  style  it  seems  to 
me  that,  both  from  their  words  and  works,  wood-carvers  are 
too  much  afraid  of  expressing  their  ego.  Mr.  Frith  says 
that  the  yearning  to  invent  something  new  is  particularly 


HOOD    CARVERS. 


rj: 


X. 


fascinating  to  the  mind  of  youthful  cast,  and  seemed  to 
question  whether,  "with  so  great  a  mass  of  past  experience 
influencing  us,"  this 
novelty  was  attainable. 
Yet,  when  wood-carvers 
speakof  our  great  Grinling 
Gibbons,  it  is  always  as 
scholars  towards  an 
honoured  master,  and 
Gibbons's  work  stands 
the  test  of  centuries  for 
its  individuality,  as  much 
as  for  its  technical  ex- 
cellence. No  repetition 
of  past  work  eiiher  in- 
vigorates (jr  develops  our 
present  efforts.  Mr.  Mark 
Rogers,  Jun.,  received 
his  first  instruction  from 
his  father,  and  for  ten 
years  was  in  the  life  class 
at  Lamlieih,  and  before 
beginning  woik  on  his 
own  account  spent  a  year 
in  the  South  Kensington 
Museum  School.  The 
human  figure  enters 
largely  into  his  designs, 
as     it     did     in     that    of 

Grinling    Gibbons    (as   witness    his   screen   in    the    chapel 
of   Trinity   College,   Oxford)  ;  and    though   1   have   heard 


146  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

it  said  that  wood  is  not  a  good  material  to  use  for 
figure  carving,  the  human  form,  when  well  drawn  and 
composed,  adds  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  craft.  The 
supporting  figures  for  the  chimney-pieces  at  Ashridge  (and 
which  were  exhibited  in  the  Royal  Academy  in  i8S6,  1887, 
and  1890)  were  carved  by  Mr.  Rogers.  Many  of  our 
younger  sculptors  are  turning  their  attention  to  decorative 
work,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  dividing  line  which  has 
hitherto  kept  apart  sculptors  and  carvers  is  being  rubbed 
away.  It  is  time  this  was  so.  Alfred  Stevens  did  not 
disdain  to  carve  mantelpieces,  and  a  sculptor's  energies 
might  be  better  applied  to  the  decoration  of  a  room  or 
building  than  carving  busts  of  middle-aged  gentlemen  with 
bald  heads  and  nicely  brushed  whiskers. 

The  work  of  Mr.  George  Jack  I  first  saw  at  the  "  Arts 
and  Crafts."  He  represents  the  newer  influences  which 
have  stimulated  our  craftsmen  and  taken  them  out  of  the 
rut  of  precedent.  Professional  wood-carvers  allude  to  much 
of  the  work  there  exhibited  as  the  "rabbit-hutch"  school, 
and  the  striving  for  originality  has  a  tendency  to  produce 
eccentricity,  but  the  endeavour  on  the  part  of  the  committee 
to  give  the  first  place  to  original  work  is  a  right  one,  though 
they  cannot  be  too  eclectic  in  choosing  the  works  to  exhibit, 
and  so  avoid  an  impression  of  monotony  which  is  slightly 
observable  in  certain  crafts. 

The  School  of  Art  Wood-carving  has  shifted  its  (juarters 
from  the  Albert  Hall  to  the  Central  Technical  College, 
Exhibition  Road.  It  has  the  advantage  of  being  a  teaching 
body  as  well  as  a  society  of  workers.  The  example  of 
their  work  given  is  by  W.  H.  Grimwood,  one  of  the 
instructors  to  the  school.     The  fees  vary  from  ^5  a  ([uarter 


IJOOD   CA RISERS. 


147 


for  day  tuition,   to  jQ2  for  evening  tuition,  the  students 
providing  their  own  tools  and  materials. 

The  Birmingham  School  of  Handicraft  is  a  young  society, 
and,  from  the  examples  of  their  work,  I  should  say  has 
vitality  and  earnestness  to  stimulate  it,  and  keep  it  on  the 
stretch.     Why  is  it,  by  the  way,  that  Brummagen  is  used  as 


Fij;.  loi. — Carved  Oak  Sclllc.     (Stiuthwold  School  of  Haiidiciat't.) 


a  term  of  reproach?  Is  it  because  mechanical  finish,  the 
result  of  the  factory  system,  has  become  so  hateful  in  our 
eyes?  The  town  has  shown  considerable  activity  in  the 
matter  of  art  to  remove  the  reproach,  but  art  cannot  thrive 
in  factories,  where  the  in(li\idual  is  merely  the  cog  to  a 
wheel  in  the  huire  n)uclune. 


148 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


I  fancy  that  carvers  do  not  sufficienily  realise  that  hand 
cunning  does  not  make  a  piece  of  work  a  work  of  art. 
Manipulative  skill  must  be  directed  to  some  worthy  end, 
and  be  kept  within  bounds  by  selection  and  appreciation  of 
line  and  mass.  So  much  wood-carving  lacks  distinction  : 
it  is  no  better  than  high-class  manufacture  through  wanting 
the  charm  of  personality.  I  would  sooner  have  less  hand- 
cunning  and  more 
personality,  though 
there  is  no  reason 
why  the  one  should 
not  be  added  to  the 
other.  Amateurs 
find  wood- carving  a 
craft  peculiarly 
suited  to  them  be- 
cause it  employs  the 
fingers,  and  they  can 
watch  their  work 
grow  under  their 
hands,  and  they  soon 
get  a  sense  of  power 
over  their  material. 
One  friend,  an  en- 
gineer, has  carved  a  complete  set  of  dining-room  furniture, 
including  a  very  massive  sideboard.  He  gets  his  designs 
from  bits  of  old  carving  he  lakes  rubbings  of,  and  fits  them 
together  into  some  sort  of  "  whole."  Could  he  but  import  a 
little  touch  of  originality  into  his  work  how  much  it  would 
gain  !  If  he,  instead  of  going  into  a  church  for  his  inspira- 
tion, went  out  to  nature,  drew  let  us  say  some  familiar  form 


Fig.  I02. — Working  Design  for  Cabinet. 

H.  D.  Kichter. 

(Prize  Design,  .South  Kensington.) 


IFOOD    CARJ'ERS.  149 

like  the  bramble,  and  then  adapted  it  to  his  requirements, 
he  would  be  giving  us  himself  as  well  as  his  finger  dexterity. 
He,  like  many  others,  thinks  too  little  of  the  design  and  too 
much  of  the  carving.  A  certain  ruggedness,  a  vigorous 
spontaneity  would  be  better  than  the  impersonal  refinement 
which  many  amateurs  appear  to  think  is  the  only  quality  to 
go  for.  It  is  something  like  the  man  who  gave  so  much 
attention  as  to  how  to  speak  and  use  his  voice  that  he  quite 
forgot  how  little  he  had  to  say  when  he  was  ready  to  say  it. 
I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  give  an  example  of  work  done 
under  the  influence  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of 
Village  Industries  and  Craftsmanship.  The  settle  (Fig. 
loi),  which  was  shown  last  year  at  the  annual  exhibition 
at  the  Albert  Hall,  is  a  straightforward  piece  of  work 
evidently  modelled  after  the  old  oak  chests  which  have  the 
last  few  years  been  so  prized  by  those  who  love  that  which 
is  of  good  report. 


CHAPTER      IX. 


BOOKBINDERS. 


i#' 


'v    ' 


4" 


X ;  iB9s  lA 


CRAFT  of  book- 
binding has  dur- 
ing the  last  dozen 
years  been  in- 
vaded, or  perhaps 
I  had  better  say 
followed,  by 
several  amateurs, 
who  have  gained 
for  themselves 
some  distinction 
as  binders,  as  well 
as  calling  the  at- 
tention of  book- 
lovers  to  the  de- 
sirability of  invest- 
ing the  designs  of  bookbindings  with  individuality,  instead 
of  repeating  those  7/iof//s  which  have  been  used  time  after 
time  until  all  interest  in  them  has  departed.  Women  have 
taken  to  the  craft  with  much  success,  as  these  pages  can 
testify,  and  it  certainly  is  a  calling  well  within  the  compass 
of  many   women   who,    having    taste   and    some    skill   in 


4 


:h. 


"»  ■■-   -.  :~ 


Fig.  lo^ 


Design  for  Binding.     By  the 
Co-operative  Bookbinders. 


BOOKBINDERS.  1 5 1 

designing,  will  go  through  the  apprenticeship  necessary  to 
acquire  the  technique. 

Bindings  have  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the  shows 
of  the  "  Arts  and  Crafts  "  in  former  exhibitions,  though 
less  so  in  the  last  one,  and  many  an  old  binder  must 
have  rubbed  his  eyes  to  assure  himself  that  the  daring 
manner  of  the  "tooling,"  as  well  as  the  prices  asked  for 
"  such  eccentricities,"  were  really  what  he  saw  before 
him.  "  rd  be  an  artistic  bookbinder  if  I  got  such  prices," 
I  think  I  can  hear  him  say.  Perhaps  if  the  old  binder 
had  given  Ids  bindings  that  spice  of  originality  which 
so  staggered  him  in  the  work  of  the  exhibitors  at  the 
"  Arts  and  Crafts,"  he  too  might  have  obtained  increased 
prices  for  his  work,  for  people  are  prepared  to  pay  for 
originality  ;  it  is  mediocrity  that  comes  off  so  poorly. 

In  selecting  the  illustrations  to  accompany  this  chapter 
I  have  given  representative  bindings  of  n\  hat  may  be, 
for  the  sake  of  distinction,  called  the  old  school,  from 
the  library  of  Mr.  S.  A.  Thompson  Yates,  who  was  kind 
enough  to  lend  me  the  books  here  figured,  and  a  series  of 
bindings  by  Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson,  who  is  thoroughly 
representative  of  the  modern  spirit,  as  well  as  a  few  others  ; 
and  I  have  also  shown  the  work  of  a  local  handicraft 
class  started  by  a  lady  some  four  years  or  so  since,  to  show 
how  much  may  be  done  by  reviving  the  art  instincts 
dormant  throughout  the  country,  and  diverting  this  activity 
brought  into  play  so  that  it  does  not  dissipate  itself  in 
unworthy  works.  Other  examples  of  the  work  wrought 
under  the  stimulus  of  the  Home  Arts  and  Industries 
Association  will  be  found  in  this  work. 

Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson's  atelier  is  opposite   the   Kelm- 


'52 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


scott  Press,  where  William  Morris  set  up  his  printing-press 
and  produced  those  books,  such  as  "  Chaucer,"  that  he 
evidently  hoped  would  stem  the  tide  which,  from  his  point 


Fig.  104. 


J-'Il'.  iOv 


Fig.  106  Fig.  107. 

Fig.  104. — Impressions  of  Tools.     Figs.  105,  106,  107. — Bindings. 
By  Mv.  C.  J.  ColKlen-Saundeison. 

of  view,  swept  away  all  distinction  in  modern  printing.  It 
is  a  delightful  bit  of  old  London,  the  Upper  Mall,  and  a 
refreshing  contrast  to  that  feverishly-active  and  blatant  part 


BOOKBINDERS. 


153 


of  Hammersmith  adjoining,  where  so  much  effort  is 
expended  in  the  attempt  to  make  the  pubUc  beUeve  they  can 
purchase  two  penny  buns  for  three-ha'pence. 

I  take  Mr.  Cobden  Saunderson  as  a  representative  binder 


^^ 


r>?  /  ^>  'v*  ^  * 


*^* 


i-iil.  loS. 


l-"i^.  109. 


l-i<'.  no. 


1-lL'.    111. 


Figs.  108,  109,  no,  III. — Bin(lin<js.     By  Mi.  C.  J.  Cohdcn- 

.Saunderson. 

because  he  has  stepped  out  of  the  groove  of  tradition,  has 
impressed  his  individuahty  upon  his  work  in  the  way 
that  old  Roger  Payne  (Hd   over  a  century   ago,  and   has 


^54 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


brought  thought  and  love  to  the  craft  he  has  chosen  to 
follow,  so  that  the  work  turned  out  by  him  is  the  very  best 
of  its  kind. 

Mr.  Ctjbden-Saunderson's  life  story,  so  far  as  it  concerns 


yw«»«««g»»-i««»»»»»»M»rxx 


Fi^'.  112. —  Jjiiidmy.     By  Mr.  BiiiUall,  ot  Xotiiii<,'lKtni. 

US  here,  is  briefly  told.  After  being  a  barrister  for  some 
years,  he  left  the  Bar  and  went  for  six  months  with  Roger 
De  Coverley  to  learn  "  forwarding,"  working  as  an  ordinary 
"  hand  "  the  while.     After  that  he  opened  a  workshop  over 


BOOKBINDERS. 


155 


Messrs.  Williams  and  Norgate  in  Maiden  Lane.  The  next 
move  was  to  convert  his  own  drawing-room  into  an  ateUer, 
and  for  seven  years  he  worked  at  binding  books  and  decora- 
ting their  covers  with  patterns,  his  wife  doing   the  sewing. 


Fi^'.  113.—  Biiulinj,'.     By  "  Roger  de  Coverley." 

In  those  days  Cobden-Saunderson  and  his  wife  did  every 
part  of  the  work,  but  some  two  years  ago  he  rented 
a  house  at  Hammersmith,  took  into  his  employ  three  or 
four  workmen  and  a  girl  to  do  the  sewing,  and  so  established 
the  "  Doves  Bindery." 


IS6  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

Bookbinding  divides  itself  into  three  departments :  one, 
the  sewing  of  the  pages  together  securely  and  in  such  a  way 
that  the  book  can  be  opened  with  comfort ;  two,  the  putting 
of  the  book  between  protective  boards  or  covers  ;  and 
three,  the  ornamenting  of  these  covers  with  patterns.  A 
well-bound  book  should  be  practically  indestructible,  and 
the  sewing  is,  therefore,  done  by  hand,  whereas  books  as 
they  are  issued  to  the  public  (save  in  a  few  exceptional 
instances)  are  sewed  by  machinery,  and  frequently  now  with 
wire  instead  of  string. 

Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson  is  as  particular  about  this  part 
of  the  work  as  the  ornamenting  of  the  covers,  for  while  the 
"  tooling  "  is  a  matter  entirely  optional,  the  sewing  and 
"  forwarding  "  is  one  of  necessity,  and  a  bookbinder  would 
first  of  all  look  at  the  "  back"  of  a  book  and  see  how  it 
opened  before  he  would  examine  its  ornamentation.  In 
the  days  when  books  were  {q'n  they  were  such  highly 
cherished  possessions  that  great  attention  was  paid  to  the 
binding  and  the  decoration  of  the  covers,  as  a  glance  at  the 
cases  in  the  King's  Library  in  the  British  Museum  testifies. 
These  bindings  must  have  been  very  costly,  and  it  is  in  this 
spirit  of  veneration  lor  books  that  some  few  among  us 
spend,  what  seems  to  those  content  with  shilling  editions 
of  the  classics,  an  outrageous  sum  for  binding  a  few  of 
their  literary  treasures.  Such  were  the  examples  Cobden- 
Saunderson,  like  other  bookbinders,  had  before  him  when 
he  began.  But  just  as  the  vitality  of  peoples  dies  out 
through  lack  of  iresh  blood,  so  schools  of  design,  living 
always  upon  themselves,  soon  lack  vitality,  and  die 
finally  of  inanition ;  tradition,  therefore,  ceases  to  be  a 
teaching  influence. 


BOOKBINDERS.  157 

I  asked  Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson  how  he  learnt  design- 
ing, and  he  repHed  that  the  faculty  was  gradually  deve- 
loped, that  he  began  by  dividing  the  surface  to  be  orna- 
mented into  spaces,  and  filling  each  space  with  some 
simple  motif  like  a  trefoil.  "When  I  got  one  foot  planted 
I  put  the  other  down,  and  so  began  my  journey."  It  was 
useless,  he  felt,  working  on  old  lines  ;  he  must  tread  out 
a  path  for  himself,  and  that  he  has  done  so  a  glance 
at  this  binder's  work  proves.  All  designs  should  have 
a  geometrical  basis  and  should  follow  a  well-ordered 
plan,  and  that  method  of  treating  a  book-cover  as  a 
Japanese  does  a  fan,  does  not  commend  itself  to  this  mas- 
ter binder  ;  for,  as  Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson  said  to  me,  it 
was  his  desire  "  to  set  himself  in  symmetrical  harmony  with, 
the  things  around  him." 

All  designs  should  be  merely  a  development  of  the 
simple  use  of  the  tools  used,  and  a  glance  at  the  im- 
pressions made  by  the  tools  on  the  cover  (Fig.  104)  will 
explain  what  is  meant  better  than  many  words.  With 
just  these  few  tools  endless  combinations  are  possible,  and 
they  may  be  considered  in  the  same  relation  to  book-cover 
decoration  as  the  notes  in  the  scale  are  in  music.  Mr. 
Saunderson  holds  that  the  fewer  the  tools  used  in  book- 
cover  decoration  the  better.  The  skill  should  be  exhibited 
in  the  pleasing  antl  infinite  combinations  of  a  few  motifs, 
and  if  the  examples  of  his  bindings  be  examined,  it 
will  be  found  that  though  great  richness  of  effect  is 
obtained,  the  resources  are  few,  as  in  the  binding  of  the 
book,  "The  Sayings  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ''  (Fig.  105). 

Some  bibliophiles  urge  that  there  should  be  some  relation 
between  the  cost  of  the  binding  and  the  value  of  the  book 


15S 


THE    TRAIN  I XG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


itself.  My  friend  Mr.  Thompson  Yates  objects  to  binding 
a  6s.  edition  of  Tennyson  in  a  jPfi  binding,  but  in  the  case 
of  a  rare  or  unique  copy  of  a  book  such  an  expenditure  on 
the  binding  may  be  justified.  Mr.  Saunderson,  when  I 
put  this  to  him,  said  that  this  is  a  fallacy,  for  the  value  of  a 
book  does  not  depend  upon  the  cost  of  its  paper  and  the 
machine-printing,  but  upon  its  value  as  a  work  of  genius. 


mm 


Fig.  1 14.  -  Inlaid  Bindinjj.     By  "  Roger  de  Coverley." 


He  binds  a  book,  the  best  of  its  kind  procurable,  and 
though  the  poems  of  Keats  may  be  purchased  for  a  few 
shillings,  there  is  no  reason  why  you  should  not  honour 
the  |)oet  by  binding  his  works  at  a  cost  of  many  pounds. 
The  further  question  of  the  cost  of  his  bindings  touches  a 
delicate  topic,  for  Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson"s  bindings  have 
mil  to  as  much  as  from  J^,2q  t  j  ^£40  per  volume.    Few  can 


BOOKBINDERS. 


'59 


pay  this  price,  but  then  few  ran  buy  pictures  or  any  other 
supreme  work  of  men's  hands  ;  but  if  they  who,  out  of 
the  margin  of  their  incomes,  hke  to  bind  books  they 
greatly  value  absolutely  as  well  as  they  can  be  bound,  the 
world  is  certainly  the  gainer,  for  man  being,  as  Carlyle 
says,  a  tool-using  animal,  nothing  interests   him   mure  than 


Fi<^.  115.  —  l-Jiiuiing.     By  Fazakerley. 

to  see  skilful  craftsmanship — the  perfection  of  hand- 
cunning. 

It  seems  to  me  worth  while  here  10  (juote  a  {fvi  sentences 
from  what  I  may  call  the  master  binder's  decalogue,  for  in 
the  papers  contributed  by  Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson  to  pjc- 
sent-day  literature  are  some  very  luminous  thoughts  on  Art 
crafts  generally,  binding  in  particular. 

I.  "A  half-bound  book  is  an  tconomy,  and  economy  is 
in(  ompatible  with  decoration." 


i6o 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


2.  "  We  should  not  enshrine  in  a  beautiful  binding  the 
ephemeral  productions  of  the  moment." 

3.  "  The  beautiful  book,  the  work  of  genius,  the  immor- 
tal in  literature,  should  be  the  exclusive  object  of  the  binder's 
craft  when  heightened  by  the  art  of  the  decorator.     The 


l*i".  116.— Hair-bouiid  Book.     By  the  Co-opeiaiive  Bookbinders. 

decoration  should  be  done  in  honour  of  him  whose  genius 
it  should  be  a  delight  to  honour." 

4.  "  Shall  I  ever  attain  to  such  skill,  to  such  conscious- 
ness of  power,  that  I  shall  not  even  know  lunu  to  fail?" 

5.  "  Wholly  to  achieve  victory  in  the  binder's  craft,  to 
forget  no  end  in  the  prosecution  of  the  means,  to  exaggerate 
no  feature  from  long  practice  and  perfect  skill,  to   permit 


BOOKBINDERS. 


If)  I 


no  craft  of  hand  to  overcome  the  judgment  of  the  head,  is 
in  this,  as  in  all  crafts,  an  exceedingly  difficult  task." 

6.   "  He  can  '  tool,'  but  he  cannot  design  ;  and  he  has  so 


W€ 


l-ig.  1 17.  — Dc>ij,'ii  for  Bindiiij,'.     By  Mc.s-,i.s.  Dent  &  Co. 

magnified  execution  that  when  completely  successful,  when 
completely  triumphant,  he  is  then  most  conspicuously  a 
failure  !  " 


M 


102  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

7.  "  What  an  education  the  prosecution  of  a  craft  is 
for  the  soul  of  a  man  !  The  silent  matter  which  is  the 
craftsman's  material  is  wholly  in  his  hands  ;  it  hears  and 
makes  no  reproaches,  but  it  never  forgives  and  it  has  no 
mercy." 

8.  "  Design  is  invention  and  development,  and  when 
development  has  reached  a  certain  point  the  invention  is 
exhausted,  and  some  new  departure  must  be  taken.  No 
new  departure  has  been  taken  since  the  three  historic  schools 
closed." 

9.  "In  the  first  place  there  must  be  in  every  design  a 
scheme  or  framework  of  distribution;  the  area  to  bs 
covered  must  be  covered  according  to  some  symmetrical 
plan.  The  scheme  or  framework  of  distribution  must 
itself  be  covered  by  the  orderly  repetition  and,  if  need  be, 
modification  and  development  of  some  primary  element  of 
decoration,  which  we  may  call  a  motif.  All  patterns  to  be 
good  must  be  orgmic  in  the  relation  of  their  details,  and 
organic  in  the  method  of  their  development." 

10.  "  It  is  in  the  intention  of  the  harmony  of  the  universe 
that  the  ideal  of  the  work  of  the  hand  resides.  It  is  in 
itself  an  adjustment  at  once  beautiful  and  serviceable.  It 
is  a  dedication  of  man's  powers  to  an  end  not  beyond 
man's  reach.  It  is  in  this  wise  that  I  commend  to  you  all 
the  life  of  the  workman,  of  the  workman  working  in  little 
in  the  spirit  of  the  whole." 

I  leave  Mr.  Cobden-Saunderson's  work  to  speak  for  itself. 
That  he  is  faithful  to  his  creed  is  evident  by  the  examples 
given,  though  the  beauty  of  the  tooling  cannot  be  .shown  in 
the  illustrations,  only  the  plan  of  the  design, 

A  book  design  may  be  made  symbolical  of  the  contents, 


BOOKBIXDERS.  163 

as  in  the  example  of  Mr.  Birdsall  of  Nottingham,  Fig.  1 1  2, 
the  Gothic  character  of  the  design  harmonizing  with  Street's 
"  Gothic  Architecture  in  Spain." 

This  and  the  examples  of  "  Roger  de  Coverley  "  and 
Fazakerley  of  Liverpool  are  from  Mr.  Thompson  Yates' 
library,  and  are  all  excellent  examples  of  tooling,  and  in 
some  cases  inlaying  ;  Fig.  r  14,  i.e.,  where  parts  of  the  design 
have  small  pieces  of  other  coloured  leather  let  in,  such  inlays 
being  glued  down  to  the  covers,  and  tooled  so  as  to  incor- 
porate them  into  the  general  design.  But  the  beauty  of 
these,  as  of  all  bindings,  must  ho.  felt  to  be  appreciated. 

The  design,  Fig.  117,  of  Messrs.  Dent  &  Co.,  reminds  me 
that  Mr.  Dent,  who  kindly  took  me  over  his  workshops,  pro- 
duces commercial  bindings  which  have  some  distinction,  as 
the  binder  who  tools  them  works  out  his  own  ideas  in  each 
cover,  so  that  no  two  are  quite  alike.  The  super-superior 
person  may  sneer  at  this  and  carp  at  the  result,  but  he 
might  remember  that  the  majority  of  us  cannot  often 
indulge  in  a  ten-shilling  binding,  and  to  make  the  a\erage 
binder  an  artist  is  after  all  the  direction  all  effort  should 
take.  By  the  side  of  this  binder  of  Mr.  Dent's  was  a 
machine  stitching  his  shilling  edition  of  the  plays  of 
Shakespeare,  the  covers  of  which  are,  of  course,  wholly 
the  product  of  a  machine,  the  on'y  hand-work  being  the 
gluing  of  the  covers  on  to  each  play. 

Miss  Bassett  has  kindly  supplied  me  with  examples.  Fig. 
1 18,  of  the  leather  work  done  by  the  Leighton  Buzzard  handi 
craft  class,  which  she  was  instrumental  in  starting  some  four 
or  five  years  ago.  "  My  class  was  started  originally  with  the 
object  of  giving  employment  to  a  crippled  child  in  the  town. 
There  are  now  some  s-x  or  seven  cripples  who  work  regu- 


i64  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

larly  at  binding  and  leather  work.     And  these  are  paid  by 


Fig.  ii8. — Bindings.     By  Miss  Bassett. 

the  hour  according  to  the  excellence  of  their  work.     Our 
method  of  tooling  the  leather  is  much  the  same  as  that 


BOOKBINDERS. 


■  165 


adopted  in  the  German  bindings,  but  our  speciality  is  that 
of  tinting  and  gilding  the  leather  after  it  is  embossed." 

From  the  work  I  have  seen  I  judge  it  to  be  good  of  its 
kind,  especially  as  workmanship.  Embossed  or  beaten-up 
leather  is  a  favourite  method  with  Miss  Bassett's  craftsmen, 
and  very  beautiful  effects  can  be  obtained  by  this  means. 
This  beaten  leather  work,  almost  identical  in  method  with 
repousse  metal-work,  is  being  more  and  more  employed  by 


Fi<j.  I  [9. — Printed  Book-Co\er  Design.     Adapt, ition  of  natural  pliin 
form.     By  B.  A.  W'akhain. 


contemporary  binders,  and   with  excellent  results  in  many 
cases. 

A  word  may  be  said  with  regard  to  the  designs  for 
ordinary  cloth  bindings,  seeing  that  some  of  our  best 
decorative  artists  work  for  the  trade  binders  ;  for  nothmg 
is  more  cheering  than  to  find  it  worth  the  while  of  com- 
merce to  engage  the  services  of  artists.  "  We  have  got  on," 
as  Mr.  Egerton  IJompas  said  in  Mr.  I'inero's  comedy,  when 
this  is  to  be  noted,  as  it  may  be  by  any  one  who  looks  at 


1 66  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

the  bindings  of  books  issued  by  our  leading  publishers, 
and  compares  them  with  those  of  half-a-dozen  years  since. 

The  design  by  B.  A.  Waldram,  Fig.  119,  is  one  which 
gained  a  prize  at  South  Kensington,  and  shows  consider- 
able ingenuity  in  the  management  of  intricate  lines. 

I  may  here  say  that  I  am  responsible  for  the  design  of 
the  cover  of  this  book,  I  aimed  at  a  severe  simplicity,  for 
the  method  of  producing  these  bindings  seems  to  suggest 
that,  but  at  the  same  time  I  wanted  to  get  a  direct  reference 
to  nature  in  the  design,  which  is  suggested,  as  the  reader 
can  see,  by  the  Columbine  (A.  Crysantha).  I  know  of  few 
things  that  exercise  one's  taste  and  ingenuity  more  than  a 
cloth-cover  design.  You  get  none  of  the  choiceness  which 
comes  of  tooling,  and  therefore  your  effect  must  be  obtained 
in  quite  a  different  way  to  that  of  the  binder,  and  it  is  better 
therefore  to  steer  quite  away  from  such  effects. 

I  cannot  do  better  than  close  this  chapter  by  giving  some 
extracts  from  an  article  on  "A  New  Technique  in  Tooling," 
contributed  by  Mr.  D.  S.  MacColl  to  The  Art  Journal. 
The  writer's  remarks  are  a  distinct  contribution  to  the 
subject,  for  they  not  only  advocate  what  I  insist  upon  ^my 
readers  will  say  ad  nauseam) —the  development  of  the  indivi- 
duality and  the  breaking  up  of  new  ground  instead  of  going 
on  tilling  soil  which  has  become  sterile  by  over-cropping, 
but  they  point  with  definiteness  to  a  fresh  treatment  of 
tooling,  as  can  be  seen  by  the  specimens  of  the  bindings 
executed  by  Miss  MacColl  under  her  brother's  tutelage. 

"  The  designing  of  the  first  books  led  me  to  speculate  on 
the  curious  limits  under  which  tooling  has  been  done  for 
hundreds  of  years.  What  these  limits  are  must  be  familiar 
to  many  people  from  a  number  of  recent  books  and  articles 


BOOKBINDERS.  167 

on  tha  subject,  so  that  it  will  ba  unnecessary  to  go  into  the 
matter  at  length.  The  early  type  of  cover  decoration  was 
of  a  different  sort.  Blocks,  running  from  a  small  to  a 
considerable  size,  and  in  character  like  the  dies  used  to 
stamp  medals  or  seals,  were  employed  to  stamp  a  whole 
device  at  one  blow  in  a  press,  and  to  render  it  in  raised 
relief.  The  devices  were  symbolic,  heraldic,  or  illustrative. 
In  the  later  type,  surviving  with  many  changes  of  style 
to  our  day,  instead  of  freely  designing  a  block  in  one  piece 
to  decorate  his  cover,  the  binder  builds  a  design  for  each 
book  out  of  a  number  of  hand  tools  which  can  be 
re-combined.  These  tools  impress  themst^lves  in  sunk  relief, 
and  the  impression  is  frequently  gilded.  They  divide  up 
into  four  sorts  : — 

1.  The  Wheels  or  'Fillets.'' — These  wheels  are  employed 
to  draw  the  straight  lines  bounding  the  cover  or  framing 
smaller  panels. 

2.  Ilie  Curves  or  '  Gouges^ — For  every  curved  line,  on 
the  other  hand,  and  for  every  separate  length  of  curved 
line,  as  well  as  for  short  straight  lines,  an  individual  tool 
is  cut  out. 

3.  Tlie  Stamps. — These  are  small  tools  cut  into  the  form 
of  spirals,  leaves,  flowers,  dots,  stars,  and  any  other  shapes 
required  in  addition  to  curved  and  straight  lines. 

4.  Rolls  and  Pallets  are  wheels  and  segments  on  which  is 
impressed  a  running  recurring  pattern. 

The  different  styles  of  the  bookbinders  have  differed 
considerably  in  the  importance  of  the  part  assigned  to  each 
class  of  tool.  Some  have  preferred  lines  straight  and 
curved,  others  have  mingled  lines  and  stamps  in  elaborate 
design,  others  have  "powdered"  their  surfaces  with  stamps 


ir,8  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

or  grouped   them  in  tiny  lace-work  patterning,      The   old 


Fig.  120.— MacColl  binding  for '■  Grass  of  Parnassus." 
By  Andrew  Lang. 

press-blocks  or  "plaques"  have  frctiuently  been  revived  in 


BOOA'B/XDERS. 


169 


combination  \v\t\\  the  new  tooling.  The  only  accepted 
technique  permitting  some  freedom  of  drawing  with  the 
stock  tools  has  been  the  marking  out  of  forms  witli  a  dot. 


I*"ig.  121.—  MacColl  binding'  to  a  cojiy  of  W.  ]I.  I'alci's  "  The 

Renaissance." 


It  is  sometimes  argued  that  this  technical  tradition  in  the 
matter  of  tools  imposes    a  valuable    check  on    the    laste 


I70  THE    7 RAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

with  which  designs  are  made — affects  them  with  a  certain 
restraint  and  control.  The  argument,  I  fear,  is  doubly- 
fallacious.  A  man  without  taste  can  produce  results  as 
horrible  with  a  few  lines  and  curves  as  if  he  had  all  the 
forms  in  the  world  to  choose  from.  But  the  supposed  check 
is  really  no  check  at  all.  The  only  limit  is  the  number  of 
curves  and  stamps  that  a  binder  chooses  or  can  afford  to 
have  cut  for  each  book,  and  a  survey  of  modern  binding 
will  show  how  absolutely  without  influence  on  style  is  this 
tradition  of  technique.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  there  is 
something  amusing  in  the  attempt  to  obtain  numerous 
combinations  out  of  an  arbitrarily  limited  set  of  forms  : 
this  ingenious  and  acrobatic  side  of  design  has  its  fascina- 
tion. But  where  taste  and  ingenuity  are  wanting,  nothing 
will  come  of  a  negative  check  but  a  geometrical  re-shuffling  : 
where  these  qualities  are  present  they  can  be  safely  left  to 
determine  their  own  limits,  and  will  determine  them  with 
an  inherent  severity  much  stricter  than  any  arbitrarily  im- 
posed. 

Is  there,  then,  any  point  at  which  this  tradition  of  tool- 
making  might  be  relaxed  with  advantage,  so  as  to  allow  the 
decorator  to  arrive  more  easily  at  results  he  already  makes 
shift  to  reach  in  spite  of  it  ?  There  is  surely  one  such  very 
obvious  modification.  Already,  in  drawing  straight  lines, 
the  binder  employs  a  tool,  namely,  the  wheel,  which  might 
with  eq'ial  reason  be  employed  in  drawing  curves.  This 
tool  is  in  the  binder's  hands ;  there  would  appear  to  be 
something  superstitious  in  objecting  to  its  extended  use. 
The  advantages  of  its  use  may  be  summarised  as  economy 
of  means  with  variety  of  effect.     Thus  :  — 

I.  All  the  curves  already  produced  by  rigid  tools  can  be 


BOOKDIXDERS.  171 

executed  by  a  wheel,  and  even  many  of  the  smaller  forms 
for  which  stamps  are  commonly  cut. 

2.  In  practice,  when  a  binder  does  not  have  tools 
specially  cut  to  carry  out  a  design,  but  re-combines  a  set  of 
stock  tools,  the  curves  he  employs  are  the  simpler  and 
stricter  curves,  chiefly  segments  of  circles  of  various  radii. 
To  get  anything  near  the  play  and  delicacy  of  curvature 
that  a  draughtsman  would  naturally  introduce  into  a  line 
design,  the  stock  of  segment  curves  would  have  to  be 
enormous,  both  in  variety  of  length  and  of  radius ;  nor 
would  there  appear  to  be  any  reason  in  the  nature  of  things 
why  the  curves  on  a  book-cover  must  be  of  this  segmentary 
character.  The  wheel,  a  single  tool,  displaces  all  this 
apparatus,  and  allows  of  delicacies  of  inflection  beyond 
what  the  largest  stock  of  fixed  curves  could  execute.  In 
fact,  it  puts  a  pencil  into  the  hand  of  the  book-decorator, 
a  natural  counterpart  of  the  tool  used  by  the  designer. 
The  economy  of  means  may  be  illustrated  from  Fig.  121,  the 
design  for  Mr.  Pater's  "Renaissance,"  The  curved  stem- 
lines  in  these  instances,  simple  as  they  are,  do  not  fall 
among  the  segmental  curves  usually  supplied  to  the 
bDokbinder,  and  had,  therefore,  to  1)2  expressly  cut  for  the 
purpose.  With  the  wheel  th-^se  lines  can  be  readily  drawn. 
An  examination  of  the  remaining  designs  will  show  how 
much  ease  and  freedom  of  curvature  are  possible  in  this 
new  technique.  Thus  the  lines  of  the  peacock's  tail  could 
be  readily  reproduced  without  any  anxious  fitting  of  stock 
curves  to  the  lines,  or  the  making  of  new  tools  expressly  to 
render  them.  The  wheels,  it  should  be  explained,  which 
are  employed  in  straight-line  drawing  have  a  diameter  of 
several  inches,  a  convenience  when  a  long  line  has  to  be 


172  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

drawn,  and  also  because  equable  pressure  comes  more  easily 
with  a  heavier  tool,  and  heat  is  retained  longer  by  a  larger 
tool.  But  these  large  wheels  could  not  turn  within  a  small 
angle,  and  our  innovation  consisted  in  having  a  small  wheel 
constructed  with  a  diameter  less  than  that  of  a  threepenny 
piece.  With  this  all  but  very  sharp  turns  are  possible,  and 
these  can  be  managed  with  the  additional  resource  of 
few  links  and  joints.  With  this  apparatus,  as  a  reference 
to  the  designs  will  show,  it  is  possible  to  execute  forms  of 
considerable  intricacy,  though  we  have  not,  in  these  illus- 
trations, by  any  means  pressed  its  powers  to  their  limits. 
The  use  of  the  wheel,  it  should  be  added,  calls  for  a 
certain  power  of  drawing  in  its  handler,  in  the  sense  of 
being  able  to  follow  a  line,  freehand,  with  swing  and 
nicety. 

The  tradition  of  design  in  bookbinding  is  only  at  certain 
l^oints  respectable,  the  amount  of  original  talent  devoted 
to  it  having  been  small.  Now,  the  governing  considerations 
that  make  a  design  fundamentally  good  or  bad  are,  in 
binding  as  in  other  arts,  not  the  elegance  of  this  or  that 
detail,  but  the  plan  and  scale  of  the  whole  design  and 
the  logical  beauty  with  which  the  parts  are  compacted  or 
grow  from  one  another.  The  plan  of  having  a  number  of 
stock  tools  mechanically  re-combined  frequently  defeats  the 
operation  of  such  a  sense,  since  a  series  of  curves  and  of 
details  cut  for  one  size  of  cover  will  seldom  fit  another. 
The  real  "  limits  "  of  design  for  bindings  are  severe  enough. 
The  planning  should  be  governed  by  the  fact  that  not  only 
the  spaces  of  the  two  sides  must  be  considered,  but  also 
the  six  panels  into  which  the  back  is  divided  by  its  bands, 
or,  if    there  are  no    bands,  the  single  slim  panel  of    the 


BOOKBINDERS. 


Fig.  122. — MacColl  binding  of  Catalogue  of  the  Aits  ami  Cial'ls 
Exhibition,  18.S9.     Peacock  and  Fountain. 


back.     The  breadth  of  the  back    should  affect   throiigliout 
the  scale  of  ornament. 


174  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAF2SMAN. 

A  further  complication  enters  with  the  title.  If  a  title  is 
put  on  the  back,  the  scale  of  lettering  adopted  in  it  deter- 
mines the  scale  of  ornament  throughout.  This  is  the  real 
crux  of  bookbinders' designing,  and  it  is  obvious  how  often 
designers  evade  it  by  attempting  no  relation  between  the 
scale  of  ornament  on  the  back  and  on  the  sides.  But  if 
there  are  bands  on  the  back,  as  must  inevitably  be  the  case 
in  the  best  flexible  work,  design  is  still  more  strictly  condi- 
tioned. The  panels  thus  formed  at  once  become  the 
necessary  unit  of  scale  in  breaking  up  the  sides.  More 
strictly  the  unit  is  an  im<igined  common  measure  of  back- 
panel  and  sides.  The  designer  does  not,  of  course, 
geometrically  woik  this  out,  but  it  is  the  sense  of  this 
relation  that  determines  him  in  the  proportion  and  placing 
of  his  masses  and  details,  and  a  lettered  panel  limits  the 
design  very  completely  indeed. 

Starting  from  this  fact  of  the  panels  on  the  back,  the 
designer  may  actually  carry  the  lines  of  the  bands  across 
the  sides,  as  in  "  Grass  of  Parnassus,"  or  he  may  not ; 
but  he  must  throughout  give  to  these  lines  an  imaginary 
extension  in  placing  the  design  upon  the  sides,  and  if  he 
puts  a  title  on  the  cover,  this  must  be  considered  in  its 
scale  and  place  together  with  that  on  the  back. 

Many  treatments  of  the  covers  are  possible.  Each  may 
be  considered  as  one  large  panel — "  Catalogue  of  the  Arts 
and  Crafts  Exhibition,"  Fig.  122,  or  broken  up  in  various 
ways  into  smaller  panels^"  Grass  of  Parnassus,"  Fig.  120, 
or  both  taken  together  as  one  panel  crossed  by  the  back — 
"The  Golden  Hind,"  Fig.  123.  In  this  last  case  a  design 
may  be  thrown  across  the  two  covers,  but  each  part  must  be 
to  some  extent  self-sufficient,  since  the  whole  is  rarely  seen 


BOOKBINDERS. 


'/3 


at  one  time.     In  connection  with  this  particular  application, 
it  may  be  added  that  the  treatment  of  book  designs  will 


o 


differ  a  good  deal  according  to  the  way  in  which  a  book  is 
regarded — whether  as  put  on  a  shelf  with  other  books  and 


175  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

exposing  its  back,  or  laid  on  a  table  and  exposing  its  side, 
or  most  reasonably,  perhaps,  as  something  turned  about  in 
the  hands. 

A  favourite  plan  in  designing  for  book-covers,  as  for  the 
decoration  of  the  printed  page,  is  to  plan  a  border  with 
a  design  that  runs  round.  It  is  a  plan  seldom  satisfactorily- 
carried  out,  not  only  from  the  difficulty  of  turning  the 
corner  —  a  difficulty  more  often  cut  mechanically  than 
solved — but  because  a  design  that  turns  a  second  corner  is 
almost  necessarily  broken -backed  in  effect.  An  ideal  law 
of  growth  or  motion  controls  ramified  or  wave  design  even 
when  least  naturalistic  in  its  forms.  A  design  returning 
into  itself  is  more  satisfactory  on  a  circular  plan  than  on 
one  that  is  right-angled. 

It  may  be  added,  in  this  connection,  that  when  a  highly 
abstract  or  conventionalised  ramification  is  introduced,  a 
displeasing  effect  will  result  from  giving  those  branches 
naturalistic  leaves  or  flowers.  It  is  for  this  reason  we  feel 
uncomfortable  when  in  certain  designs  attributed  to  the 
Eves,  and  much  imitated,  we  find  little  leaves  tied  on  at 
intervals  to  a  rigid  segmental  form.  It  is  better  to  follow 
in  the  path  of  the  best  Gothic  designers,  who  gave  a  pillar- 
tr(  e  pillar-leaves  that  the  ingenious  have  in  vain  tried  to 
identify  with  any  one  plant.  So  should  the  book-tree  ha\e 
book-lea\es  and  flowers  at  an  equal  remove  from  nature 
with  its  stem.'' 


CHAPTER   X. 

WOMEN    WORKERS   IN   THE   ART   CRAFTS. 

AN  for  the  field  and  woman  for  the  hearth,  Man 
for  the  sword  and  for  the  needle  she,"  requires, 
so  far  as  the  last  statement  is  concerned,  a 
very  liberal  interpretation,  the  word  "  needle  "  having  to 
symbolise  tools  in  general.  For  women  are  doing  most 
excellent  work  in  the  Art  crafts ;  so  excellent,  indeed,  that 
it  occurs  to  me  it  would  be  wiser  if  many  who  are  now 
trying  to  win  positions  as  painters  and  sculptors  were  to 
direct  their  energies  and  abilities  into  the  less  ambitious 
groove  of  applied  art ;  success  of  a  quite  satisfactory  kind 
might  be  theirs. 

When  I  was  trained  as  a  glass  painter,  I  do  not  remember 
any  woman  who  had  won  a  reputation  as  a  painter  of 
church  windows,  though  some  few  were  employed  as 
"  tracers."  Miss  Mary  Lowndes,  who  has  a  studio  at 
Chelsea,  is  doing  some  excellent  glass,  and  I  was  glad  of 
the  opportunity  which  a  visit  to  her,  at  Messrs.  15ritten  and 
Gilson's,  where  she  paints  her  windows,  aft'orded  me  of 
seeing  the  glass  she  uses  in  her  work.  This  make  of  glass 
was  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Edward  Prior.  It  is  dull  on  one 
side,  and,  instead  of  being  rolled  or  blown,  is  nioulded  in 


178  THE   TRAJXIXG    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

small  pieces,  and  varies  considerably  in  thickness,  from 
half-inch  to  one-eighth.  The  glass  has  somewhat  the  effect 
that  cutting  gives  a  gem,  and  is  exceedingly  brilliant ;  while, 
at  the  same  time,  it  cannot  be  seen  throusrh.    This  thickness 


l"i<;.  12^. —  Window.     B}-  Mary  Lowndes. 

gives  a  Avindow  made  up  of  it  a  substance  and  quality  not 
obtainable  when  the  ordinary  thin  glass  is  employed.  It  is 
obvious  that  glass  of  great  beauty  in  itself  should  have  as 
little  painting  put  upon  it  as  possible,  for  all  paint  applied 
to  glass  tends  to  destroy  its  brilliance. 

Miss  Lowndts,  in  fact,  keeps  her  painting  almost  entirely 


TVOJ/E.V  WORKERS  IN  THE  ART  CRAFTS.       179 


\l 


1"  ij,'.   125. — Lhuicli  ot  Uio  Holy  Innocents,  Laniarsh. 
By  Mary  l.owndcs. 

[Owinjf  to  length  of  block  it  has  h;ij  to  bo  divided.] 


i8o  THE    TRAINING  OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

to  the  subject  portions  of  her  window,  and  gets  much  of  her 
effect  by  the  distribution  of  the  leads  and  the  selection  and 
arrangement  of  tlie  colour.  The  glass  itself  is  much  more 
costly  than  the  ordinary  makes,  and  the  leading  of  it  again 
is  troublesome,  so  cheap  work  is  not  possible.  But  in  a 
Avindow  which,  unless  accident  befalls  it,  may  live  through 
the  ages  to  come,  cheapness  should  surely  not  be  the  first 
consideration.  People  will  willingly  give  hundreds  for  a 
canvas  painted  by  a  popular  artist,  and  yet  the  same  folk 
expect  a  window,  much  more  costly  to  produce  than  a 
picture,  to  be  made  for  a  few  pounds. 

Miss  Lowndes  worked  for  some  little  time  with  Mr,  Holi- 
day at  cartoon-making;  but  as  regards  the  technique  of 
glass  painting,  she  is  self-taught,  Mr.  Christopher  Whall 
has  not  been  without  his  influence  upon  Miss  Lowndes, 
and  she  speaks  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  pupil  about  him. 
Miss  Lowndes  relies  upon  her  drawings  from  the  model  in 
her  cartoons,  but  as  the  actual  painting  of  the  glass  is  done 
by  her,  the  necessity  of  making  elaborate  cartoons  does  not 
exist.  Nothing  is  left  to  the  glazier  but  the  cutting  and 
leading,  as  the  artist  selects  each  piece  of  glass  used  in 
making  a  window ;  and  this  ought  always  to  be  the  case 
in  the  flesh  and  important  parts  of  the  drapery.  Flesh 
painting  on  glass  is  too  often  of  the  most  ignorant  kind, 
the  work  of  mechanics  with  neither  feeling  nor  knowledge 
to  give  charm  or  quality  to  their  work.  How  many  women 
with  a  considerable  amount  of  academic  knowledge,  which 
comes  of  good  training,  might  take  up  glass  painting  and 
achieve  success,  that  is  denied  them  in  the  more  am- 
bitious fields  of  painting  and  sculpture  !  Some  technical 
training    would    be   necessary,    but   this   would    soon    be 


WOMEN   WORKERS   IN   THE   ART  CRAFTS.        i.Si 

acquired  by  one  with  the  training  of  an  art  student  to  start 
with. 

Miss  Mary  Nevill,  who  works  at  Edgbaston,  Birmingham, 
is  also  winning  a  reputation  as  a  designer  of  painted  glass. 
From  the  design  reproduced  (Fig.  126),  Miss  Nevill  is  evi- 
dently influenced  by  Burne- Jones  and  Morris.  We  are  all 
conscious  or  unconscious  imitators,  for  what  is  more  natural 
than  to  seek  to  get  into  our  own  work  the  qualities  we  admire 
in  others  ?  We  must  first  be  level  with  the  knowledge  of 
our  time,  and  then  we  can  march  forward  into  the  unknown, 
where  only  our  perception  is  our  guide.  Glass  painting 
owes  much  to  Burne-Jones  and  Morris,  just  as  they  owed 
much  to  Madox  Browne,  but  I  must  say  here,  as  I  have 
said  before,  that  the  student's  personality  must  make  its 
way  through  all  influences,  as  the  pupa  does  through  its 
cocoon,  if  you  would  soar  into  the  world  of  Art.  So  much 
Art,  especially  of  a  decorative  nature,  is  just  now  too  much 
a  reflection,  instead  of  a  lamp  shining  forth  with  what 
strength  it  may  to  lighten  our  darkness.  The  Birmingham 
Guild  of  Handicraft  I  have  elsewhere  alluded  to,  but  it  is 
a  healthy  sign  that  such  a  purely  manufacturing  town 
as  Birmmgham  is  doing  something  to  get  a  little  other 
influence  than  the  purely  commercial  into  what  is  being 
done  there  in  the  way  of  craftsmanship. 

There  is  a  growing  demand  for  artistic  metal-work. 
People  are  no  longer  satisfied  with  the  stock  patterns  in 
gas-fittings,  electric-light  holders,  and  lamps,  but  desire 
something  which  is  not  to  be  seen  in  every  house  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Miss  Esther  Moore,  whose  studio  is  at 
Bedford  Park,  has  turned  her  attention  to  applied  design,  and 
her  electric-light  holder  (Fig.  127)  is  a  specimen  of  her  work 


I»2 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


in  this  direction.  The  panel  in  low  relief  (Fig.  i28\  one  of 
three  for  a  pianoforte  front,  has  a  tender  gracefulness  suital:)le 
to  the  purpose.     Miss  Moore  has  in  it  given  play  to  her 

fancy,  and  the  dispo- 
sition of  curves  filling 
out  the  panel  and 
supporting  the  figure 
are  skilfully  and 
pleasantly  studied. 
She  roughly  models 
the  work  in  wax,  then 
has  it  cast  in  plaster, 
which  is  then  tooled 
up  and  finished :  an 
excellent  plan  where 
delicacy  is  required,  as 
plaster  can  be  carved 
and  brought  to  a  high 
degree  of  finish.  A 
mould  is  then  made 
from  the  plaster,  and 
a  casting  taken  in  sil- 
ver or  bronze. 

What  a  field  there 
is  before  the  student 
who  has  had  a   train- 


l-ig.  120. — Window.     By  Mary  JNeviil. 


ing 


in    modelling! 


Instead  of  waiting  for 


the  elderly  gentleman  to  come  along,  with  nicely  trimmed 
whiskers  or  curling  beard  (and  probably  retreating  hair),  to 
have  his  bust  modelled,  let  the  student  do  some  original  work 


I 


WOMEN   WORKERS  IX   THE   ART  CRAFTS. 


^H 


in  metal,  if  it  be  only  a  lock  plate,  like  that  of  Miss  Florence 
Steel's  (Fig.  129),  and  I  feel  sure  there  is  a  world  ready  to 
patronise  her.     For  the  last  few  years  excellent  metal-work, 


Fig.  127. — Electric- Litjht  Holder.     V>\  Kstlur  .\r.  Moore. 

as  these  pages  attest,  has  been  produced  in  many  directions, 
and  there  is  a  large  public  capable  antl  ready  to  patronise 
an  original  worker  in  metal. 


184 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


At  the  Arts  and  Crafts  Exliibitions  some  good  book- 
binding has  been  shown,  the  work  of  women.  As  the 
sewing  of  books  is  always  done  by  them,  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  "  forwarding "  should  be  left  to  men.  Leather 
work  would  appear  to  be  a  craft  in  which  women  might  do 

very  excellent  work. 

I  am  able  to  give  an 
example  of  one  of  Miss 
Birkenruth's  bindings 
(Fig.  132);  and  in  an- 
other chapter  may  be 
seen  specimens  of  bind- 
ings by  Miss  MacColI. 

Repousse  leather 
might  be  more  exten- 
sively employed  on 
book-covers  than  it  is, 
for  the  effects  obtain- 
able are  rich  and  not 
out  of  place,  provided 
that  too  much  relief  is 
not  given  to  any  portion 


/ 


^># 


h*'**^. 


of   the    design.      Some 


Fij^.  [2.S. —  I'aiKl  111  J  las-relief. 
Ksther  M.  Moore. 


specimens  of  work  of 
this  character  of  the 
fifteenth  century  I  have  seen  show  what  can  be  done  with 
repousse'  leather  when  skilful  hands  are  directed  by  a 
trained  imagination. 

The  School  of  Wood-carving  has  a  woman  for  its  mana- 
ger, and  has  two  assistant  teachers — a  book-cover  by  one 
of  them  (Fig.  130),  Miss  M.  E  Reeks,  being  given.    A  great 


WOMEN    WORKERS  IN   THE   ART  CRAFTS.        185 

many  of  the  pupils  who  go  to  the  school  for  instruction  are 
women,  and  wood-carving  appears  to  be  popular  with  lady 
amateurs.  Miss  M.  Hussey,  of  Salisbury,  who  has  exhibited 
some  quite  original  carved  frames  at  the  Arts  and  Crafts, 
has  allowed  me  to  reproduce  a  specimen  of  her  work  (Fig. 
131).  It  has  the  great  merit  of  gaining  distinction  by  its 
original  treatment,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  a  good 
deal  of  the  wood-carving  that  one  sees ;  and  it  is  this  indi- 
viduality— I  must  apologise  for  having  to  use  the  word  so 
often — which  is  such  an  encouraging  sign  among  the  younger 
craftsmen  whose  work  I  have  been  privileged  to  inspect 
during  the  writing  of  this  book. 

Women's  work  is  accused  of  its  want  of  character  and  its 
tendency  to  pettiness,  which  comes  of  smallness  of  vision. 
I  am  not  here  posing  as  the  superior  critic,  but  I  question 
whether,  considering  the  disadvantages  so  many  women 
workers  in  Art  labour  under,  and  how  much  less  thorough 
is  the  training  so  many  of  them  receive  compared  to  men, 
their  work  is  so  far  below  the  male  standard  as  some  critics 
infer.  I  do  think,  however,  that  if  women  are  to  do  them- 
selves justice,  they  should  try  to  obtain  a  more  thorough 
training  than  they  are  inclined  to  be  content  with,  for  if 
they  take  a  craft  up  as  the  business  of  their  life,  they  mu:-t 
not  fall  back  upon  their  sex  as  an  excuse  for  technical 
deficiencies.  From  some  experience,  I  can  say  that  women 
think  too  often  that  a  course  of  lessons  is  going  to  enable 
them  to  rush  full-blown  into  workers,  yet  when  it  comes  to 
it  women  are  more  patient,  painstaking,  and  even  drudging 
than  men  ;  and  these  qualities  ought  to  carry  them  far  in 
the  crafts. 

The   carving    and   decorating    of  frames   might    receive 


1 86 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


much  more  attention  at  the  hands  of  craftswomen  than  has 

been    the    case.      Many    painters 
would,   I  feel  sure,  be  willing  to 
fay   for   original    frames,    if  they 
knew    where    to    go    for    them, 
instead    of  putting    up   with    the 
composition    ones    which    are    so 
generally  used.      But 
a  woman  would  have 
to    be     prepared     to 
work  for  a  time  with 
some  want  of  patron- 
age until  she  had  won 
for   herself  a   clientele 
by  the   excellence   of 
her  craftsmanship  and 
the  originality  of  her 
designs.     From   some  experience 
I    am   led    to    say    that    women 
expect  too  much  at  the  outset.     I 
have  known  amateurs  who  expect 
in  half-a-dozen  lessons  to  become 
fully  equipped  to  follow  a  craft, 
and  make  a  good  living  out  of  it ; 
whereas     a    moments    reflection 
ought    to    convince     them     that 
much  practice,  as  well   as  study, 
goes  to  the   making  of  a   crafts- 
Fiy   129.— Lock  Plate.  man,  and  distinction,  and  with  it 

florcncc  Steele  • 

monetaiy   success,    is    only    won 
after  a  considerable  output  of  energy,  the  exhibition  of  much 


U'OMEX   WORKERS  IN   THE   ART  CRAFTS.        187 

patience,  and  a  considerable  belief  in    one's    self.     One's 
hopes   are   high,    I    know,    at   the    outset,  and   waiting  is 


I 


i 


V 

i  f 


'•''V         I  if^iiLls  ^.il-l^'^'l; 


^'.n^ 


•>^! 


II 


i       ■! 


Fig.  I  jo. — A  Presentation  Book-Cover.     Designed  and  Carved 

M.  E.  Reeks. 


weary  work  ;  but  1,  Avho  have  gone  through  all  this,  can  tell 
you  that  you  should  only  be  "  baffled  to  fight  harder,"  nor 
"  dream  that  right,  though  worsted,  wrong  will  triumph." 


i88 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


Then,  again,  one  cannot  ignore  what  is  known  as  the 
business  side  of  Art,  especially  in  Art  that  is  applied,  say, 
to  the  furnishing  of  a  house ;  and  here  I  fear  that  women 
allow  themselves  to  be  beaten  by  an  unthinking  disregard 


J"'U-  '3'' — Carved  Frame.     By  M.  Hus.sey. 

of  such  small  considerations  as  punctuality,  price,  and  pur- 
pose. It  has  been  said  that  there  is  no  sentiment  in  busi- 
ness, and  craftswomen  would  do  well  to  remember  this, 
especially  in  dealing  with  firms  who  only  view  the  crafts  as 


V 


WOMEN   WORKERS  IN   THE  ART  CRAFTS.       1S9 

they  would  any  other  commodity.     The  experience  of  all 
women  workers  I  have    spoken    to  points    to    this,    that, 


;f  ,♦:;■»'  -.  mt^. 


,Vi 


,:Mmx  ■ 


wmm^^>^  ^' 


m^. 


W". 


"i-^    J 


m^'^ 


f:W:-:::w.  .^^'"..y- 


^^/^ 


'(/    W'AM 


/•-      // 


Fi<,'.  132.— Binding.     By  Miss  Birkenruth. 

granting  an  ordinary  School  of  Art  training,  it  is  necessary 
to  build  your  craftsmanship  upon  that  in  order  to   acquire 


I90  THE    TRAIN  I XG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

the  necessary  technique,  and  during  this  second  probation 


o 


1) 
C 

p 


J) 


o 
o 


you  must  keep  a  li^ht  as  well  as  a  stout  heart.     Those  who 
have  from  the  outset  only  trained  themselves  in  the  practice 


WOMEN   WORKERS  IX    THE   ART  CRAETS.        igr 

of  a  particular  craft,  must  remember  that  if  they  are  only 
finger  machines  a  corresponding  small  measure  of  success  is 
for  tliem  :  they  can  never  inherit  the  land  that  might  be  theirs 
were  they  more  fully  equipped.  Drawing  from  nature,  both 
from  plants  and  the  figure,  should  run  parallel  with  technical 
instruction,  for  you  cannot  have  too  varied  a  training ;  and 
change  of  work  as  well  as  study  keeps  the  mind  [)]iant  and 
fresh,  and  your  hands  will  do  things  undreamed  of  by  the 
mechanic,  and  astonishing  to  yourself. 

I  shall  finish  this  chapter  with  a  word  of  praise  for  the 
excellent  way  women  have  organized  classes  in  craftsmanship 
in  country  places.  This  movemeat,  with  its  small  begin- 
nings, is,  I  believe,  the  one  that  will  restore  Art  to  our 
industries  and  make  our  ];eople  once  again  cunning  workers. 
The  annual  exhibition  at  the  Albert  Hall  of  the  Home  Arts 
and  Industries  Association  enables  us  to  measure  what  is 
being  done,  and  I  am  glad  lo  be  able  to  give  in  this  book 
two  or  three  specimens  of  work  \vi ought  under  the  siimulus 
of  this  association. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
SURFACE   DECORATION. 

N  the  brief  survey  we  have  taken  of  some  of  the 
prominent  Art  crafts,  I  have  not  had  occasion  to 
say  much  about  design  in  the  abstract,  partly 
because,  as  I  hold,  that  design  and  craftsmanship  are  in- 
separable, and  partly  because  design  cannot  be  taught. 
But  it  would  appear  an  oversight  to  ignore  altogether  Sur- 
face Decoration,  so  this  chapter  will  consist  in  the  main  of 
notes  written  to  accompany  some  examples  of  surface  decora- 
tion I  have  selected  from  the  pages  of  The  Art  Journal. 

The  screen,  Fig.  134,  by  Sir  E.  Burne-Jones,  is  a  good 
example  of  the  painter's  method  as  applied  to  decoration. 
One  can  see  the  influence  of  glass  painting  in  the  way  the 
forms  are  shaped,  as  though  a  lead  line  had  to  come  around 
them — indeed,  I  believe  this  screen  is  adapted  from  a 
design  made  originally  for  glass.  The  painter  of  a  picture 
has  to  study  "values"  and  surfaces  as  well  as  how  to 
brush  on  the  colour,  but  the  decorator  has  to  think  of 
every  part  of  his  design  as  an  agreeable  shape,  fitting  in 
each  portion  with  ingenuity  and,  at  the  same  time,  with 
an  eye  to  the  whole  effect.  The  flames,  for  instance, 
are  not  the  representation  of  a  particular  flash  of  light, 
but   are   evolved   from    the   painter's   inner  consciousness, 


SURFACE  DECORATION, 


\q: 


tlie   forms   being    conditioned    to    a   large   extent   by   tlie 
spaces  occupied  by  them.     The  painter  deals  with  repre- 


Fig.  134.— Screen.     By  Sir  K.  Burne- Jones. 


sentation,  the  designer  with  construction;  yet  there  must  be 
truthfulness  so  that  the  work  may  be  convincing,  and  this 
can  only  come  of  the  study  of  actual  flames,  so  that  the 

o 


194  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

lines  of  his  design  may  be  suggested  by  the  hues  actual 
flames  give — the  result  of  observation.  A  decoration 
should  be  just  as  truthful,  so  far  as  observation  and  know- 
ledge goes,  as  a  picture,  but  it  cannot  be  independent  of 
all  else  as  the  work  within  a  frame  can. 

Burne-Jones  is  described  by  a  certain  class  of  critics  as 
a  decorative  painter,  but  the  term  is  a  question-begging 
-phrase  at  best.  How  far  painting  can  be  carried  in  an 
imitative  or  deceive  the-eye  direction  is  one  I  shall  make  no 
effort  to  decide.  There  are  they  who  hold  that  all  pictures 
are  merely  decorations,  and  that  it  is  better  to  make  no 
attempt  at  imitating  surfaces  or  objects,  seeing  that  "  the 
best  of  these  are  but  shadows." 

The  decorator  is  generally  called  upon  to  do  a  good  deal 
of  work  for  the  money  expended — to  cover  a  much  larger 
surface  for  much  less  money  than  the  painter  of  pictures, 
and  it  behoves  him,  therefore,  to  study  economy  of  means  ; 
but  this  does  not  excuse  bad  work — bad,  that  is,  in  drawing 
and  colouring,  in  adaptation  or  arrangement.  A  decoration 
should  be  just  as  good  on  its  own  lines  as  a  picture,  whereas 
the  idea  seems  to  be  held  that  a  bad  picture  may  be  a  good 
decoration  :  the  work  the  art  gallery  rejects  may  become 
the  success  of  the  workshop ;  a  wholly  false  belief,  of 
course. 

The  shutter,  Fig.  135,  by  Mr.  Whistler,  is  a  portion  of  the 
celebrated  peacock  room  decorated  for  the  late  Mr.  Leyland. 
It  is  a  most  admirable  example  of  painted  decoration  because 
there  is  no  false  attempt  made  at  giving  a  realistic  rendering 
of  the  birds,  such  as  a  skilful  handler  of  the  brush  like 
Mr.  Whistler  could  have  given,  but  a  constructed  design  in 
which  the  lines  are  most  skilfully  and  gracefully  placed. 


^■'«-   1J5— ''iHiUcr.      ijy  J.  McXcill  Whi.ilcr, 


196 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


Mr.  Whistler  owes  something  to  his  study  of  Japanese  art, 
as  he  would  be  the  tirst  to  acknowledge,  and  the  student 
could  put  himself  under  no  better  influence  for  a  while  than 
the  best  Japanese  art.  A  study  of  their  Kakemonos,  or 
hanging  wall  pictures,  is  specially  to  be  commended.  Their 
knowledge  of  plant  and  animal  form  is  what  a  constant  and 
faithful  study  of  naiure  alone  can  give,  and  the  refinement 
of  their  rendering  of  natural  forms,  the  power  of  selection, 
their  skill  in  placing  and  occupying  the  space  gives  Japanese 
work  an   iini(]iieness,   which  made   decoration,  a  few  years 


Fig.  13b. —  Ship  Frieze.    For  Mural  Decoration.     By  ^I.  A\'atson. 
(South  Kensington  Schools.) 


ago,  take  a  Japanese  turn  ;  and  the  good  that  a  study  of 
their  work  would  have  done  English  designers  was  to  a 
great  extent  nullified  by  an  attempt  at  copying  their  work, 
a  proceeding  as  foolish  as  it  was  impossible. 

The  question  of  how  far  surface  decoration  may  be 
naturalesque  depends  upon  the  method  of  reproduction,  and 
the  purpose  to  which  the  decoration  is  to  be  put  as  well  as 
the  time  that  can  be  given  to  it. 

A  design  to  be  inlaid  would  obviously  have  to  be  simpler 
in  treatment  than  if  it  were  to  be  painted,  and  then  again 
were  the  painting  on  the  panel,  say  of  a  cabinet,  it  might  be 


SURFACE  DECORATIOX.  jc)7 

carried  much  further  than  if  you  were  decorating,  say,  a 
pianoforte  top,  an  excellent  specimen  of  which  I  remember 
seeing  years  ago,  by  Morris,  in  which  the  wood  was  painted 
white,  and  an  all-over  arrangement  of  foliage  was  disposed 
in  quiet,  low-toned  colours.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me 
better  to  be  frankly  decorative  than  weakly  naturalistic: 
say  the  forms  emphasised  by  an  outline  and  complicated 
foreshortening,  and  light  and  shade  avoided.  Not  that  there 
is  any  necessity  why  decoration  should  be  outlined,  as  at 
one  time  was  the  vogue  (decorative  work  ///efi  always 
implied  an  outline),  but  it  is  better  to  do  this  if  by  so  doing 
you  bring  your  work  within  the  limits  of  the  price  to  be 
paid  for  it.  It  should  be  (juite  excellent  within  the  limits 
imposed  upon  it,  whereas  if  a  more  subtle  or  pictorial  class  of 
work  were  attempted  the  fulfilment  might  then  do  no  more 
than  suggest  how  insufficient  it  is,  because  the  standard  set 
is  outside  the  reach  either  of  the  worker  or  his  opportunities. 
A  good  piece  of  simple  decoration  in  which  the  conditions, 
whatever  they  may  be,  are  frankly  accepted,  is  of  more 
value  artistically  and  commercially  than  an  inadequate 
picture.  Ai)ait  from  these  considerations  a  decoration 
should  possess  a  certain  ingenuity  of  construction  or  arrange- 
ment— design,  in  other  words,  which  is  not  demanded  of 
the  painter  of  easel  ])ictures.  Not  that  a  picture  does  not 
need  arrangement,  Init  it  is  of  a  less  obvious  nature  than  a 
decoration  which  has  to  make  much  of  the  main  lines 
of  the  design,  for  good  decoration  should  always  suggest 
"  the  being  fitted  for  a  place  and  subordinated  to  a  pur- 
pose." 

Tlie  ship  frieze,   Fig.    136,  is  a  good    instance  of  what 
is    termed    decorative    adaptation.       The   artist    does    not 


198  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

trespass  upon  the  painter's  ground, 


Fig.  137. —  ivakcinunu.    .St)»cn. 


but  is  content  to  find  a 
foothold  for  himself  in 
another  field. 

The  Japanese  have 

been    termed     born 

decorators,  though  this 

is  another   misleading 

or     question  -  begging 

phrase.   What  is  meant 

presumably  is  that  they 

do  not  attempt  realistic 

representations    of 

nature,  which,  to  some 

extent,     deceive      the 

eye,    as  the   bunch  of 

grapes   in    the    Greek 

story  which  even  took 

in    the    birds,    they 

were  so  "  real."     The 

lacquered     box.     Fig. 

138,    is    "decorated " 

in  the  best  sense.     A 

Jap  is   very  dexterous 

in   pencilling  what  he 

sees  —  witness      their 

plant  and  bird  studies 

in    water-colour — but 

he  is,  when  he  comes 

to  occupy  a  space,  as 

much   concerned  with 

an  agreeable    disposal 


SURFACE   DECORA! lOX. 


109 


of  his  olijects  as  in  rendering  tlie  objects  themselves.  This 
is  well  illustrated  in  Fig.  737,  where  there  is  a  lot  of  space 
lefc  plain,  and  yet  the  whole  panel  satisfies  the  eye,  so  skil- 
fully are  the  monkeys  and  foliage  dispos-d.  A  space  may 
be  occupied  as  in  this  Kakemono,  or  filled  or  covered,  and 
it  is  in  the  former  treatment  that  the  Japs  excel. 

A   brush   in  the  hands  of  a  J^ip  is  a  most  sensitive  and 


Fig.  138. — Lacquered  Box.     Mitklle  Period  of  Ivorin. 

expressive  tool.  Ey  starting  with  the  tip  and  ])utt'ng 
gradual  pressure  upon  it  so  that  it  swells  out,  a  Jap  makes 
it  discharge  its  colour^  at  the  same  time  jfUtting  in  a  leaf  or 
petal  or  whatever  the  object  is  he  is  rendering.  This  power 
of  brush  work  stands  him  in  excellent  stead  when  it  c;omes 
to  decorating  a  screen  or  wall  picture,  as  he  is  able  to  woik 
effectively  as  well  as  rapid))-.    Tlie  student  would  do  well  to 


200  THE    TRAINING  OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

get  into  the  way  of  putting  in  forms  from  nature  by  the  use 
of  skiluil  brush  work  as  a  Jap  does.  Rapid  work,  which 
comes  of  skill  and  knowlediie.  is  always  more  admirable 
than  laboured,  painstaking  effects,  and  the  decorator  should 
cultivate  skill  in  brush  work  a  la  Japonaisc. 

A  Japanese  designer  delights  in  angles,  and  is  most  skilful 
in  the  disposal  of  them  in  a  design.  The  lines  taken  by 
the  trunk,  stems,  and  sprays  have  a  nervjiis  quality  about 
them  which  escapes  analysis,  yet  they  are  always  suggested 
by  nature.  Thi  good  a  study  of  Japanese  painting  vv'ould 
do  a  student  is  teaching  him  what  to  look  for  in  nature. 
Half  the  training  of  an  artist  is  to  the  end  to  teach  him  io 
see,  and  this  is  where  the  study  of  other  men's  work  may  be 
so  beneficial. 

Mr.  Heywood  Sumner  has,  one  might  say,  made  "sgraf- 
fito" his  own.  It  is  a  method  of  covering  a  dark  cemented 
surface  with  a  light  one,  the  design  being  produced  by 
scraping  away  the  upper  surface  while  wet  so  as  to  reveal  the 
under  one.  It  is  both  a  permanent  and  effective  form  of  out- 
side decorati')n.  A  certain  simplicity  is  necessary  where  all 
forms  have  to  be  rendered  with  a  hard  definite  outline. 
The  example  of  "The  Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  Fig.  139, 
gives  a  good  idea  of  how  and  what  can  be  done,  the  utmost 
use  being  maile  of  the  means  at  command,  with  no  foolish 
attempt  to  strive  for  too  much,  or  step  outside  the  limits 
of  the  craft.  To  fit  the  design  to  the  page  the  block  has 
liad  to  be  cut  and  the  centre  portion  placed  below  the  two 
side  panels. 

In  needL'work  we  have  two  good  examples,  shown 
recently  at  the  Exhibition  of  the  Home  Arts  and  Industries 
Association  at  the  Albert  Hall  :  Hasleiiicre,  by  Mrs.  God- 


3 


r. 


re 


f  r  JiK---«g^ 


202  THE    TRAIMKG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

frey  Blount,  Fig.  140,  and  the  Portiere  by  Messrs.  T.  Hanis 
&  Sons  (Fig.  142). 

Applique  is  always  effective  in  needlework,  and  when  bold 
in  treatment,  as  in  the  present  example,  is  both  a  quick  and 
telling  way  of  decorating  a  textile.  Great  restraint  must  be 
observed  by  the  worker  to  avoid  the  disposition  of  attempt- 
ing too  much  instead  of  frankly  recognising  and  accepting 
the  conditions  the  craft  imposes  on  one.  This  is  admirably 
observed  in  the  example,  and  at  a  casual  glance  appears 
simple  enough  to  effect,  but  from  some  experience  I  can 
vouch  to  the  contrary.  To  keep  one's  work  elemental  and 
independent  of  what  is  merely  adventitious  requires  genius, 
so  rare  is  it. 

The  portiere  was  embroidered  in  flax  on  linen  woven  at 
the  Cockermouth  Mills.  Flax  is  a  most  lustrous  material  to 
use  with  the  needle,  and  for  bold  work  and  large  designs  is 
to  be  preferred  to  silk.  I  have  seen  exhibited  at  the 
Donegal  Industrial  Fund,  some  excellent  embroideries  in 
flax  on  serge  of  Keltic  design  made  by  the  Donegal  peasan- 
try in  which  bold  patterns  in  outline,  almost  coarsely 
worked,  were  employed  with  considerable  effect  for  such 
articles  as  curtains — so  much  needlework  has  only  the 
merit  of  enormous  labour  to  give  it  value.  It  is  like  the 
weight  of  metal  making  plate  valuable,  and  is,  therefoie, 
not  doing  the  best  with  the  craft. 

Those  who  are  called  upon  to  design  for  needlework 
would  do  well  to  study  good  old  work.  The  revival  in  this 
ait  some  years  ago  produced  an  immense  output,  but  little 
of  it  will  be  handed  on  to  a  future  generation  because  of  its 
Art  value.  I  plead  guilty,  like  many  another  designer,  to 
giving  transcripts  of  nature  instead  of  designs  founded  upon 


SURFA  CE  DE CORA  TION. 


203 


a  study  of  nature,  in  which  an  original,  skilful,  and  agreeable 
disposition  of  the  main  lines  of  the  design  was  the  first  con- 
sideration, and  the  clothing  of  these  lines  appropriately  the 
next.     There  is  a  long  remove  between  a  study  of  a  par- 


Fi<,'.  140. — The  Purple  Shi]-).     F.xamplc  of  Ap|)li(iuc  Tai)estiy 

(Haslemere). 

ticular  portion  of  a  particular  plant  and  a  design  founded 
upon  the  same. 

A  certain  severe  simplicity  should,  I  think,  be  seen  in 
needlework,  and  1  would  say  that  ([uaintness  is  to  be  i^re- 
ferred  to  r  aturalness,  as  the  tuither  you  get  away  from  the 


20  t 


HIE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


Fig.  141. — One  of  the  Painted  Panels  from  the  Screen  in 
Ranworth  Chmcli,  Norfolk. 


5  L  'R  FA  CE   DE  COR  A  TION. 


205 


mere  transcript  of  nature  the  more  you  ha\e  to  depenrl 
upon  yourself,  and  the  more  chance  is  there,  therefore,  of 
expressing  your  indi\-iduaHty.  A  design  is  a  work  of  the 
imagination  as  much  as  a  poem  or  theme  in   music  i>.  and 


,•  f^ 


^^>M^-pWd 


j;2^Jj^ 


Fig.  142. — Portiere  in  Ilariis  Line.     Embroidered  in  Fla\. 

that  being  so,  nature  is  ordy  the  stimulus— the  A.  B.  C.  It 
is  you  who  have  to  do  the  rest ;  put  the  A,  B,  C.  into 
words,  and  the  words  into  sentences  which  shall  fall  with  an 
agreeable  cadence  on  the  ear  and  .'■peak  at  the  same  time  to 
the  heart. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  give  a  sketch  (Fig.  141)  of  one 
of  the  panels  in  the  screen  in  Ranworth  Church,  which  1 
made  some  few  years  since  when  on  the  Ih'oatls.  it  is  an 
excellent  specimen  of  decoration,  being  full  of  "design." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DECORATION   IN   RELIEF. 

ESSO  and  modelled  plaster  are  very  useful  adjuncts 
to  painted  decoration.  All  decoration  is  the  skilful 
and  appropriate  breaking  up  of  a  surface,  and 
modelled  work  breaks  up  decoration  by  giving  accent  and 
focussing  the  interest  at  certain  well-chosen  intervals.  Gesso 
might  be  termed  modelled  painting,  for  the  whitening  and 
glue  which  really  constitutes  gesso  can  be  applied  to  the 
wood  by  brushes,  for  it  is  to  give  an  impasto  effect  to  painted 
decoration,  and  not  to  imitate  modelling  that  gesso  should 
be  employed.  I  remember  seeing  a  grand  pianoforte  case  of 
painted  wood  which  was  decorated  with  an  all-over  foliage 
design  painted  on  in  simple  tones  ;  some  of  the  leaves  and 
the  berries  were  in  gesso,  and  the  effect  was  most  pleasing. 
The  slight  accent  given  to  the  painted  decoration  by  the 
portions  in  relief  was  of  great  help  to  the  general  effect. 

Decoration  in  modelled  plaster  occupied  a  prominent 
place  in  the  last  Arts  and  Ciafts  show,  and  no  one  has  car- 
ried this  style  of  work  further  than  Mr.  George  Frampton, 
A.R.A.  His  refined  style  and  originality  are  shown  to 
great  advantage  in  his  work  in  low  relief,  whether  it  be  in 
the  silver  panels    he  executed    for   Mr.  Astor,    or   in    the 


DECORATION  IN  RELIEF.  207 

decoration  of  the  frieze  in  his  own  drawing-room,  which  he 


Fig.  143. — Portion  of  I)ra\vin<^  Kooni  desiigned  by  George 
P'rampton,  A.R.A. 

has  allowed  me  to  reproduce.     He  is  a  great  ad\ocate  of 


208 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTS'MAN. 


Fig.  144. — Sketch  Design  for  proposed  Leightcn  ^Memorial. 
By  Geo.  Frampton,  A.R.A. 


DECORATION  IN  RELIEF.  209 

painted  sculpture  provided,  he  said  to  me,  that  the  colourist 
is  an  artist.  Of  course  in  his  own  work  he  paints  it  himself. 
Certainly  some  of  his  tinted  plaster  panels  are  quite 
delightful.  They  are  so  fresh  in  treatment,  so  emphatic  of 
himself,  so  removed  from  any  suggestion  of  manufacture, 
that  it  makes  them  a  more  than  pleasant  possession.  They 
are  choice,  a  quality  that  seems  rapidly  vanishing  in  the  ait 
work  around  us,  where  quantity  has  tali  en  the  place  of 
cpality,  a  large  output  being  a  manufacturer's  desideratum. 
Mr.  Frampton  does  not  always  want  to  thrust  his  knowledge 
of  the  figure  before  the  public.  A  modelled  frieze  I  greatly 
admired  consisted  of  a  constructed  arrangement  of  the 
seeds  of  the  plant  Honesty  set  at  regular  intervals,  and 
tinted  in  simple  light  tones  of  green,  and  he  pays  as  much 
attention  to  designing  and  modelling  this  Honesty  as  he 
would  to  a  figure,  studying  the  plant  from  nature  for  himself. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  I  saw  the  very  spray  of  dried  seed 
vessels  in  his  atelier  from  which  he  built  up  his  design. 

What  keeps  Mr.  Frampton's  work  so  fresh  is  that  he  is 
always  going  to  the  fountain-head,  nature.  At  my  request 
he  allowed  me  to  reproduce  three  of  his  studies  from  the 
model  which  he  made  for  some  of  his  work  in  low  relief. 
The  two  fitted  into  architectural  panels  were  designed  for  a 
bank  in  Scotland,  and  were  afterwards  carved  on  a  large 
scale  in  freestone.  Considerable  skill  is  shown  in  the  way 
the  figures  are  accommodated  to  the  eccentric-sha[)ed  space 
which  they  had  to  occupy.  The  seated  figure  is  a  study  for 
one  of  the  silver  panels  before  referred  to.  The  figures  are 
drawn  from  the  nude,  and  the  drapery  is  studied  apart  and  the 
figures  are  then  clothed.  This  gives  the  finished  work  a 
sharpness  and  virility  which  is  to  art  what  the  breath  of  life 

p 


2IO 


THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


^'g-  145.— Life  Study  for  One  of  a  Series  of  Small  Panels  in  Low 
Relief,  Cast  in  Silver.     By  Geo.  Frampton,  A.R.A. 


DECORATION  IN  RELIEF. 


211 


^\  \ 


%_ 


/ 


/ 


f-    v.: 


% 


J/ 


l-ig.  146.  —  Life  Study  for  Decoration  in  Low  Relief  of  an  Over  Door. 
By  Geo.  Frami)ton,  A.R.A. 


212 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


^ 

I 


'^. 


-W  \    .^*-    i,.    J- 


Fig.  147. — Life  Studv  for  Decuialion  in  Low  Relief  of  au  Over  Door. 
By  Geo.  Frampton,  A.R.A. 


DECORATION  IN  RELIEF.  2\i 

is  to  man.  The  usual  figure  work  in  relief  offered  to  the 
public  as  decoration  by  "firms"  who  do  this  sort  of  thing 
rarely  rises  above  the  level  of  the  plaster  cornices  in  a 
suburban  villa.  Why  don't  manufacturers  try  to  get  good 
originals?  No  one  would  then  blame  them  for  reproducing 
an  unlimited  number  of  a  good  work,  for  the  multiplica- 
tion of  a  thing  does  not  necessarily  lessen  its  art  worth. 
Any  reasonable  price  should  be  paid  for  the  original,  as  the 
co5t  when  spread  over  thousands  of  reproductions  is  hardly 
worth  consideration. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  give  a  sketch  in  clay  of  another 
of  Mr.  Frampton's  "  Decorations  "  in  relief,  the  proposed 
Leighton  memorial.  As  a  design  it  follows  exactly  the  same 
laws  as  any  other  work  of  art.  You  have  the  "  lumps  "  of 
dark  and  the  "  masses  "  of  light,  with  here  and  there  small 
ascents,  but,  looked  at  with  half-closed  eyes,  the  memorial 
might  be  a  masterly  black-and-white  study,  so  broad  in 
treatment  is  it.  The  darks,  instead  of  breaking  up  the 
lights  all  over  the  design,  are  concentrated  in  masses,  so 
that  the  simple  rule  of  keeping  the  darks  out  of  the  lights 
and  lights  out  of  the  darks  is  obeyed. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

WALL-PAPER   AND   TEXTILE   DESIGN IXG. 

jHE  student  who  elects  to  design  for  wall-papers 
and  textiles  must  acquire  the  technique  of  manu- 
facture, for  hoiu  the  design  is  reproduced  tells  us 
to  a  great  extent  hnv  the  designer  has  to  set  about  his  part 
of  the  business  :  his  design  is  conditioned  by  the  method  of 
reproduction,  and  his  labour  will  be  thrown  away  if  he  pay 
insufficient  heed  to  such  technical  matters. 

In  a  wall- paper  the  design  has  to  repeat  itself  in  two 
ways.  It  must  be  continuous,  so  that  a  constantly  re- 
volving cylinder  (if  it  be  machine-printed)  produces  the 
design,  and  it  must  be  so  arranged  as  to  repeat  itself  when 
the  pieces  are  hung  side  by  side.  The  "repeat,"  therefore, 
is  of  the  first  importance,  and  as  there  are  several  ways  of 
effecting  this  some  special  instruction  is  necessary,  and  I 
should  say  some  practical  tuition  under  a  designer  the  best 
means  of  acquiring  the  tecluie.  Schools  of  Art  are  sup- 
posed to  give  this  instruction,  and  at  some  of  the  large 
ones,  such  as  South  Kensington,  the  teaching  is,  I  daresay, 
fairly  efficient  now,  though  a  few  years  ago  this  certainly 
could  not  be  said.     In  those  days  the  authorities  appeared 


WALL-PAPER   AND    TEXTLLE  DESIGNING. 


2\  ■ 


m^. 


].-i<r.  1^8.— The  Inchkeilli  Wiill-P.ipei.     Desijjned  by  E.  A.  Hunter. 
Mlsms.  W.  Woollams  li'  Co. 

This  desifjn  mijjhl  he  analyzed  as  a  conceit  in  tlie  stiuctuial  line-, 
with  li]lin<is  of  conventionalised  lilies.  It  is  certainly  skilfully  planned, 
and  llu)U},di  its  "  repeat"  is  emphatic,  it  would,  on  a  lar^'e  surface,  be  a 
decorative  wall  covering. 


2l6 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


Y\'g.  149.— Wall-Paper,  by  Jeffrey  &  Co.     Designed  by  W.  Crane. 

This  is  a  famil'Pr  example  of  Mr.  Crane's  decorative  adaptation  of 
natuial  foims  tc,  sudi  productions  as  a  wall-paper.  The  difticully  heie 
is  chieliy  in  getting  the  "  lines  "  of  the  design  to  flow  agreeably,  so  that 
when  repeated  it  shall  cover  the  wall  of  a  loom  pleasantly,  without 
worr\ing  the  eye.  As  to  how  naturalcsque  a  prper  should  be  is  a 
(|uesiion  not  of  rule,  but  taste.  'J  here  are  they  who  dogmatise  in  this 
matter,  because  they  want  to  force  their  own  views  upon  the  world. 
I-et  them.  A  paper-stainer  has  to  cater  for  the  world,  and  is  geneially 
free  of  bias. 


WALL-PAPER   AND    TEXTILE   DESIGNING,        217 

to  have  the  utterly  mistaken  idea  that  design  itself  could  be 
taught,  and  there  was  a  period  when  a  certain  kind  of  floral 
conventionality  was  looked  upon  as  the  way.  It  consisted 
to  a  great  extent  in  drawing  the  plant  symmetrically  and 
planning  it  geometrically,  but  as  for  develop'ng  the  origi- 
nality of  the  student,  nothing  further  was  from  the  minds 
of  the  authorities.  Happily,  owing  to  the  pressure  from 
outside,  a  better  system  now  obtains,  and  in  the  judging  of 
works  sent  in  for  competition  a  great  advance  has  been 
made,  for  practical  men  with  a  recognised  position  in  the 
crafts  are  called  in  to  award  the  prizes,  and  so  a  much 
higher  standard  has  been  set.  It  might  be  thought  that,  as 
wall-papers  are  "  manufactured,"  the  opportunity  of  express- 
ing your  ego  is  small,  and  yet  originality  is  the  one 
thing  necessary  and  the  only  quality  that  will  gain  you 
attention.  The  personality  of  some  designers  in  this  field 
is  very  marked,  and  the  result  is  their  designs  have  true 
"  s'yle."  Some  few,  perhaps,  err  in  the  direction  of  eccen- 
tricity ;  but  I  am  prepared  to  forgive  originality  much, 
though  I  fear  the  manufacturer  is  not  so  sympathetic.  He 
has  to  look  at  what  sells,  and  his  practical  knowledge 
should  be  worth  a  good  deal  to  a  designer.  He  should  be 
the  designer's  "  editor,"  as  it  were,  and  most  literary  men 
are  none  the  worse  for  being  edited.  The  tyro.,  however, 
is  a  conceited  person,  and  looks  upon  himst-lf  as  all- 
sufficient,  and  kicks  against  this  editing  until  hard  ex- 
perience herself  edits  him. 

All  the  large  firms  are  ever  on  the  look-out  for  originality, 
and  a  student  who  possesses  this  quality  need  not  be  afraitl 
of  submitting  his  views  to  any  of  them.  If  there  is  any- 
thing  in    them   he    will    (|iii(kly   be    encouraged,   and    any 


Fig.  150. -Ihe  Biicnnc  Wall-i-'apcr.     D^'si-ncd  by  K.  A.  HuiUcr. 
Messrs.  W.  Woollanis  8c  Co. 

In  the  "  Inchkeith"  desi^Mi  the  pattern  resolved  itself  into  emphatic 
structural  lines,  which  were  pure  (<rnainent  and  decorative  Horal  littinj^s. 
Here  the  desif^n  is  what  is  termed  an  all-over  patttrn,  the  •' repeal  " 
being  to  a  large  extent  hidden,  so  that  the  surface  is  broken  up 
a.;reeahly,  and  thoup;h  the  design  would,  when  hung,  form  diagonal 
lines,  the  planning  of  the  pattern  is  homogeneous,  no  opposing  motif 
being  introduced.  I  should  call  it,  too,  a  well-drawn  design,  the  artist 
cxhii)iting  a  nice  appreciation  of  shapes  and  curves. 


WALL-PAPER   AND    TEXTILE   DESLGNLNG. 


219 


technical  deficiencies  in  his  designs  will  be  pointed  out  to 
him,  so  that  he  will  quickly  drop  into  the  groove. 

While   writing   this    I    had    a    chat  with    the   managing 


Fig.  I ^ I. —The  Westmeath  Wall-Paper.     Designed  by  G.  C 
Haile,  R.B.A.,  for  Messrs.  W.  AVoollams  &  Co. 

designer  of  one  of  our  best  known  firms,  and  he  tells  me 
that  designs  of  a  very  marked  character — the  most  dis- 
tinctly original  ones,  in  fact ^ are  found  not  to  sell  so  well 


220  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

as  those  one  is  more  or  less  accustomed  to,  partly  because 
people  are  like  sheep  and  follow  one  another,  and  therefore 
dread  innovation,  and  partly  because  these  strikingly  original 
wall-papers  seem  to  upset  the  balance  of  tlie  room  and 
make  ordinary  furniture  look  terribly  commonplace.  The 
student,  therefore,  may  take  warning  from  this  and  keep 
within  recognised  boundaries,  and  be  not  too  original,  but 
just  original  enough,  until  he  become  a  force  and  gain  a 
following ;  than  he  can  compel  attention  and  so  secure 
patronage. 

I  can  remember  how  thrown  back  I  was  when  I  started 
on  my  own  account,  at  having  my  work  refused  all  round, 
but  the  fact  is  it  takes  one  some  time  to  view  one's  work 
critically,  which  is  what  the  buyer  you  submit  it  to  does. 
The  tyro  is  blindly  hopeful,  and  rates  himself  altogether  too 
high.  What  you  think  strikingly  original  is  probably  the 
commonplace  of  the  craft  you  are  working  for.  The  student 
who  will  trouble  to  master  the  technique  of  wall-paper 
designing,  which  may  be  summarised  as,  how  the  design  is 
to  repeat,  the  lines  the  design  makes  when  seen  en  masse  on 
the  walls  (this  is  very  important,  as  many  an  otherwise  good 
design  forms  ugly  lines  or  spots  when  hung),  and  how  many 
colours  it  is  necessary  to  use  to  print  it. 

Use  as  few  colours  as  possible  is  a  good  general  rule,  for 
as  each  colour  requires  a  separate  printing  it  adds  to  the 
cost  of  the  paper  to  introduce  many  colours.  A  clever 
designer  can  get  all  the  variety  he  wants  with  about  four 
colours,  and  it  would  astonish  a  beginner  to  see  what  can 
be  done  with  o?ie  colour. 

Designing  for  Textiles  is  subject  to  much  the  same  con- 
ditions as  wall-papers.     In  fact,  many  wall-paper  designs 


WALL-PAPER  AND    TEXTILE  DESIGNING.        221 


are  adapted  to  Textiles  by  the  designer  himself.  The 
special  conditions  the  work  imposes  upon  you  must  be 
observed,  and  it  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  find  out  what 
these  are  before  bestowing  your  labour  there. 

The  beginner  is  apt  to  be  discouraged  by  the  want  of 


fW^WJWM 


l-'iii 


152. — The  Westminster   W'all-l'aiiei-   and    I'"iie/e.      Designed   by 
Mr.  A.  Silver,  for  Messrs.  \V.  W'ooUams  Sc  Co. 


patronage  at  the  outset.  He  makes  a  design,  and  is  in- 
clined to  overrate  its  merits  because  of  the  interest  he  has 
taken  in  it  and  the  trouble  it  has  given  him;  but  I  may 
remind  such  an  one  that  the  firm  to  whom  he  submits  his 
effort  have  brought  to  them  many  dozens  of  designs  every 


222 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


month,  and  out  of  this  number  there  must  be  some  of  more 
than  ordinary  merit,  while  yours  may  not  be  of  that  number. 
The  doors  of  success  open  but  in  very  rare  instances  at  the 
first  knock.     You  must  have  the  courage  which  comes  of 


t^m-^:^fT:^^A 


» 


Fig.  153. —The  "  Rosebery  "  Wall-Paper.    Designed  by  Mr.  C.  ¥.  A. 
Voysey,  for  Messrs.  A\'.  ^Voollams  &  Co. 

belief  in  yourself  to  keep  on  in  spite  of  the  want  of 
encouragement  at  the  outset.  Be  yourself;  put  yourself 
wholly  into  what  you  do  ;  for  notliing  is  more  likely  to 
obtain  for  you  the  patronage  you  desire  than  an  original 


WALL-PAPER  AND    TEXTILE  DESIGNING.        223 


Fi^;.  154. — Tlic  ••Tewkesbury"  \\'all-l'a]Kr.     De^ij^iied  b\   Mr.  W.  \'. 
Aspen,  for  Messrs.  W.  \\'(j()!lanis  (Sc  Co. 


"note."  Yet  at  the  outset  the  chances  are  you  will  be  a 
reflection  of  the  woik  around  you,  or  of  some  one  crafts- 
nian  whose  ego  holds   you,  and   ii   is  not   until  \ou  ha\c 


224 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


worked  for  some  time  that  you  will  begin  to  speak  in  yonr 
own  language. 


Fig.  155. — Prize  Design  for  Wall-Paper.     By  P.  Shepherd. 
(South  Kensington  .Schools.) 


A  wall-paper  design  seems  to  divide  itself  into  two  parts. 
1  here  is  the  ornamental  constructive  part  of  the  design  (the 


WALL-PAPER  AND   TEXTLLE  DESIGKLXG.        225 

scaffolding,  as  it  were,  of  the  edifice),  the  important  feature, 
in  fact,  and  the  one  to  which  the  first  and  chief  attention 


!>'  \f/  W  \f/  ^J 


^ 


^KO. 


^ 


:i 


1 


l^'i«.  i5(>.     Wall- Paper  Desif^n.     By  C.  b.  A.  Vo>>c> . 
(Messrs.  Essex  &  Co  ) 

nuist  l)c  jKiid,  as  the  "  Hnc  "  this  makes  must  be  studied,  so 
that  it  will  repeat  itself  agreeably.     The  filling  out  of  these 


2  26  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

constructive  lines  is  a  far  simpler  affair,  and  should  only  be 
considered  after  they  are  satisfactorily  placed  upon  the 
paper. 

A  knowledge  of  plmt  form  is  essential,  and,  indeed,  the 
designer  should  always  be  on  the  look-out  and  try  and  look 
at  nature  as  though  she  were  a  series  of  wall-papers,  for  this 
idea  of  making  d'^signs  should  be  at  the  "back  of  the 
head  "  of  all  students  who  are  bending  their  talent  in  this 
direction.  The  drawing  of  plant  form  should,  therefore,  be 
done  deliberately  towards  this  end  of  making  designs.  This 
amount  of  subjectiveness  on  the  part  of  the  student  is 
necessary,  because  he  will  then  more  likely  seize  upon  those 
features  in  the  plant  which  are  ornamental  and  suggest  new 
combinations,  than  if  he  merely  sat  down  and  sketched  any 
plant  which  came  across  him. 

All  designs  one  may  say  are  at  least  suggested  by  plant 
form,  if  not  founded  upon  some  one  or  more  particular 
plants,  for  the  more  abstract  a  design  is,  that  is,  the  further 
it  is  ren.'oved  from  the  particular,  and  only  the  principles  of 
plant  growth  observed,  and  not  the  peculiarities  of  some  one 
])lant,  the  more  ornamental  it  becomes. 

Let  me  here  again  remind  you  that  a  design  is  not 
necessarily  the  conventional  rendering  of  plants,  the  sim- 
plifying and  adapting  of  them  to  a  particular  purpose,  but  a 
combination  of  lines  and  forms  agreeably  disposed  and 
suitably  arranged  for  a  particular  purpose.  The  natural 
form,  whether  it  be  a  plant,  insect's  wing,  feather,  frost  on  a 
window  pane,  flame  of  a  candle,  wave  of  the  sea,  which 
gives  the  suggestion,  is  not  the  eiui,  but  the  means.  You 
are  designing,  which  implies,  I  take  it,  that  by  a  pure  effort 
of  the  minil  you  are  evolving  shapes  from  your  inner  con- 


WALL-PAPER  AND    TEXTILE  DESIGNING. 


F'&-  '57- — Mimosa  Filliiifj  and  Bulirnuli  1-rieze. 
%  A.  J.  ]5.il>cr.     (Essex  Si  Co.) 


2  28  THE    TRAIXING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


J'i,^-  150.  — Wall-Paper  Design.     By  C.  F.  A.  Voysey.     (Essex  &  Co.) 

The  introduction  of  such  emphatic  forms  like  birds  in  a  wall-paper 
requires  to  be  done  with  great  discrimination  and  judgment.  There  is 
a  tendency  to  get  them  very  naturalistic ;  but  this  Mr.  Voysey  has 
avoided,  and  the  birds  thus  become  an  integral  part  of  the  general 
scheme. 


WALL-PAPER   AND    TEXTILE   DESIGNING.         229 

sciousness  and  not  drawing  things  already  existing,  though 
in  carrying  out  the  idea  at  the  back  of  your  head  you  use 
forms  of  things  existing  just  as  a  writer  uses  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet. 

William  Morris,  who  gave  wall-paper  and  textile  designing 
a  fresh  impetus,  kept  fairly  close  to  nature,  that  is,  you  could 
see  often  what  was  the  particular  plant  he  had  drawn  before 
making  his  designs.  He  owed  much  to  Rossetti,  who  in 
the  backgrounds  to  his  pictures  had  a  happy  way  of  intro- 
ducing plants,  treated  not  so  much  in  a  realistic  as  a 
decorative  manner.  I  remember  in  one  picture  the  painter 
introduced  an  espalier  apple-tree  in  what  we  now  should 
call  a  "  wall-paper  "  manner,  though  it  was  Rossetti 's  manner 
of  drawing  the  apple-tree  that  made  it  "wall -papery." 

Morris,  it  is  said,  owed  much  to  Gerarde's  "  Herbah" 
The  illustrations  in  this  fine  work  are  woodcuts  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  the  plants  are  drawn  in  a  very 
simple  way,  so  that  the  growth  is  shown  in  much  the  same 
way  as  is  seen  in  a  pressed  specimen.  I  can  quite  think  it 
likely  that  Morris  did  find  these  woodcuts  of  English  plants 
very  useful,  for  they  were  already  ornamented  to  some 
extent  in  Gerarde,  and  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  interpret 
them  in  his  own  way  and  for  the  purpose  he  required  them. 

Think  of  line  and  mass  before  all  else,  and  I  have  found 
that  a  big  brush  and  colour  is  a  better  way  to  rough  out  a 
design,  after  the  few  ])reliminary  charcoal  markings,  than 
any  other  medium.  A  brush  is  so  pliant,  and  you  can  get 
a  sweep  so  much  more  fluently  than  with  a  stiff,  inflexible 
point.  By  using  a  brush  and  colour  you  are  more  likely  to 
get  "breadth"  into  your  work  than  you  are  by  the  use  of 
a  point,  which  is  apt  to  induce  niggle  and  littleness.     You 


2,-,0 


THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


work  with  freedom,  too,  and  can  soon  alter  and  blot  out 
with  Chinese  white,  and  this  is  very  important  in  blocking 


^'K-  159-— Cretonne,  by  Waidle  &  Co.     Designed  by  S.  G.  Mawson. 

out  a  design,  for  you  work  then  at  high  pressure,  and  want 
a  medium,  therefore,  that  is  quickly  expressive.  When  the 
design  has  been  knocked  about  and   studied  from  every 


■>    <^ 


d     - 

O  ;- 


o 


232  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

])oint  of  view,  then  you  can  make  a  careful  tracing  of  it  and 
transfer  it  to  a  clean  sheet  of  paper,  so  that  when  it  comes 
to  drawing  it  in  carefully  you  can  do  it  with  certainty. 
This  method  of  tracing  is  useful  in  this  way,  that  in  going 
over  your  own  work  a  second  time  you  refine  it  and  leave 
out  what  is  redundant ;  you  pare  it  down  to  its  elements, 
and  so  bring  about  that  simplicity  which  is  the  foundation 
of  all  good  art. 

It  may  be  worth  your  while  to  make  a  tracing  from  your 
tracing,  and  still  further  refine  it.  But  before  you  finally 
colour  it  be  sure  that  the  design  repeats  agreeably,  and 
does  not  fall  into  disagreeable  lines  or  spots,  for  many  a 
good  idea  is  spoilt  as  a  wall-paper  by  repeating  in  an 
ugly  manner. 

The  few  examples  of  papers  given  must  not  be  considered 
representative :  they  were  to  hand,  and  so  far  are  useful  to 
the  student  as  showing  him  what  some  few  designers  are 
doing.  A  whole  book  might  be  devoted  to  this  one  branch 
of  art,  but  my  object  in  this  work  is  to  take  a  general  survey 
of  craftsmanship. 

I  may  just  say  that  the  work  of  Mr.  Voysey  and  Mr. 
Gwatkin  in  wall-paper  designing  is  strong  in  the  ego  of 
these  two  craftsmen.  The  former's  severe  restrained  style 
is  seen  in  Figs.  156  and  158,  while  the  very  bold  ornamental 
frieze.  Fig.  1 60,  by  Mr.  Gwatkin  is  a  very  admirable  example 
of  the  adaptation  of  plant  form  to  design.  In  Mr.  Baker's 
mimosa  filling,  Fig.  157,  nature  is  more  closely  followed, 
the  skill  being  shown  in  the  play  of  curve  and  distribution 
of  the  masses. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
THE   CRAFTSMAN   UP-TO-DATE   AND    HIS    OUTLOOK. 

"  Others  mistrust  and  say,  '•  But  time  escapes  : 
Live  now  or  never  !  " 
He  said,  "  Whafs  time  ?  leave  Now  for  dogs  and  apes ! 
Man  has  For  ever." — A  Grammarian  s  Funeral. 

JHERE  are  periods  in  the  world's  history  when 
progress  is  very  slow,  and  the  man  who  desires 
to  push  ahead  grows  impatient,  and  then  hope- 
less, at  the  stagnation  around  him ;  the  time  seems  not 
with  him,  and  he  is  left  to  eat  his  heart  out  with  neglect. 
These  periods  are  very  deadening  to  the  craftsman,  as  I 
realise  when  I  look  back  twenty  years.  But  I  can  also  tell 
my  readers  that  the  world,  out  of  joint  as  it  may  seem  to 
the  youthful  enthusiast  now,  doesn't  want  as  much  setting 
right  as  it  did  when  I  was  serving  an  apprenticeship  in  the 
crafts.  The  amount  of  public  recognition  given  to  an 
original  worker  now  is  greater  than  anything  dreamed  of 
in  my  apprentice  days,  and  it  shows  me  that  the  world  has 
moved  on  quickly  since  then,  and  progress,  measured  both 
by  results  and  time,  has  been  as  rapid  as  before  it  was 
slow. 

It  is  agreed  on   all  hanfls  that  the  art  of  the  early  \'ic- 


234  THE   TRAINIXG   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

torian  days  had  reached  a  very  low  ebb.  It  ran  in  the 
same  groove — "  the  same  old  rut  would  deepen  year  by 
year."  Personality,  originality,  were  wanting.  The  crafts 
were  followed  in  a  machine-like  way,  and  a  dead  level  of 
mediocrity  was  reached  that  astounds  us  when  we  look 
back  forty  years.  Recognition  was  given  to  the  firm, 
never  to  the  individual.  People  bought  certain  things 
because  a  shopkeeper  sold  them.  None  asked  themselves 
why.  The  age  was  mechanical,  and  folk  lived  mechanically 
because  they  did  not  think.  A  craftsman  now,  with  any 
skill  and  personality,  stands  a  good  chance  of  a  hearing,  and 
as  much  (if  not  more)  attention  is  given  to  the  crafts  as  to 
pictures  and  statuary.  We  realise  that  what  surrounds  us 
on  every  hand  should  be  interesting,  the  work  of  an  original 
mind  instead  of  the  output  of  machines.  The  craftsman 
has  come  into  his  heritage.  The  land  is  his  to  possess  if 
he  will. 

This  happier  and  lovelier  state  has  been  brought  about  by 
here  and  there  the  man  of  strong  personality,  through  good 
and  evil  report,  in  spite  of  neglect  and  the  "  ignorance  of 
office,"  lifting  up  his  voice  and  showing  that  he  would  not 
let  circumstances  crush  him.  In  the  slavery  of  convention 
in  which  the  craftsman  in  the  old  days  was  brought  up  he 
might  easily  have  had  his  ego  crushed  out  of  him,  but  he 
persisted  in  expressing  himself  in  his  own  way,  and  would 
not  allow  his  voice  to  be  drowned  in  the  jargon  of  his 
time. 

All  new  impulses  have  to  stand  the  test  of  ridicule. 
They  have  to  outlive  the  opposition  of  the  ignorant  and  the 
sneers  of  the  prejudiced.  One  remembers  the  first  exhibition 
of  the  "Arts  and  Crafts,"  and  what  a  source  of  merriment  it 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND   HIS   OUTLOOK.  235 

was  to  those  who  had  not  the  eyes  to  see  the  new  order  of 
thincrs.  Of  course  in  all  new  movements  there  are  excres- 
cences  which  time  has  to  wear  away  :  a  tendency  towards 
exaggeration  and  the  setting  up  of  the  eccentric  and  bizarre 
to  supplant  the  commonplace.  The  humourist  is  rignt 
in  fastening  upon  these  and  laughing  them  out  of  existence. 
That  which  is  permanent  in  tlie  movement  will  be  all  the 
better  for  the  bracing  it  receives  by  this  criticism,  unkind 
and  unjust  as  it  may  seem  to  a  few  enthusiasts  to  whom 
ridicule  is  so  paralyzing.  But  no  really  good  thing  was 
ever  laughed  out  of  the  world.  "  Though  much  is  taken, 
much  abides,"  and  that  which  time  leaves  us  is  of  real 
worth.  The  world  does  not  willingly  let  go  cunning 
work. 

The  Arts  and  Crafts  Exhibitions  were  the  outcome  of  the 
Art  Workers'  Guild,  and  this  solidarity  of  interests  which 
this  Guild  symbolizes  has  given  a  great  impetus  to  crafts- 
manship. Some  of  the  older  workers  have  thought  that  the 
"  Arts  and  Crafts"  are  narrow  in  their  sympathies,  and  only 
bring  to  the  front  the  work  of  a  particular  school.  Cer- 
tainly some  ungenerosity  of  treatment  has  been  meted  out 
to  a  few  well-known  craftsmen,  and  one  professional  wood- 
carver  told  me  that  the  committee  seemed  to  him  to  prefer 
the  "rabbit-hutch"  school  (as  he  termed  the  somewhat 
unskilful  wood -work  shown)  to  the  technical  skill  of  highly 
trained  wood-carvers.  The  society  would  not,  1  imagine, 
deny  that  they,  in  their  selection  and  rejection,  have  not 
shown  impartiality.  Absolute  justice  doesn't  exist,  and  the 
critics  of  the  "  Arts  and-  Crafts  "  should  remember  that  in 
bringing  before  the  public  certain  work  which  seems  to 
them    of  good   report  they   may  liave  turned    away  work 


236  THE    TRAINING    OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

excellent  in  every  way,  but  wanting,  perhaps,  this  personal 
quality,  which  is  another  word  for  originality.  When  you 
turn  aside  from  the  work  you  find  around  you  to  search  for 
that  which  is  the  outcome  of  other  impulses,  it  must  appear 
to  those  minds  which  have  become  hardened  by  habit  and 
therefore  disinclined  to  take  in  new  ideas  that  eccentricity 
rather  than  real  merit  obtains  recognition,  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  work  to  which  we  have  grown  more  or  less  ac- 
customed. Any  distinctly  new  departure  will  beget  the 
disapprobation  of  the  average  man,  and  that  is  why  the 
Avork  of  some  of  the  world's  geniuses  has,  when  it  first 
appeared,  had  nothing  but  scorn  and  ridicule  hurled 
at  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  sympathize  with  the  older  worker 
whose  labours  receive  no  recognition  at  the  hands  of  the 
new  society,  and  that  because  it  lacks  a  certain  up-to- 
dateness  or  modernity.  "  Man  should  delight  in  his  work, 
for  that  is  his  portion,"  and  a  society  which  exists  to  submit 
craftsmanship  to  the  world  cannot  be  too  broad  in  their 
sympathies.  It  should  be  ready  to  see  the  merit  in  all 
work  which  is  done  lovingly  and  skilfully.  The  way  the 
thing  is  done,  finger  dexterity,  hand  cunning,  the  triumph 
of  mind  over  matter — whatever  you  choose  to  call  it,  does 
and  should  appeal  to  man,  who  is  "  a  tool-using  animal." 
The  public  is  the  only  critic,  after  all,  whose  verdict  is  of 
any  practical  use ;  and  I  think  that  the  less  a  society 
assumes  the  function  of  critic  towards  the  work  sent  for 
display  the  better.  Who  is  to  judge  what  is  of  good  report? 
We  all  know  what  is  termed  manufacture — work  that  takes 
the  eye  and  has  its  price,  which  is  the  outcome  of  a  machine 
(human    though  it  may  be),  and   not  that  of  the    earnest 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND   HIS   OUTLOOK.  zy, 

worker  who  puts  himself  into  his  work.  Such  we  can  and 
should  exclude;  but  when  it  is  a  question  of  judgment  as  to 
the  position  of  a  paiticular  work  in  Art,  then  I  think  we 
should  remember  Kipling's  dictum  that  there  are  7uiie  and 
sixty  ivays,  and  that  the  one  which  appeals  to  us  is  after 
all  only  onr. 

Throughout  this  book  it  has  seemed  no  part  of  my  duty 
to  offer  criticism  on  the  illustrations.  The  fact  that  I  have 
selected  them  implies  that  in  some  way  or  the  other  they 
help  the  subject  in  hand  by  illustrating  some  phase  of 
craftsmanship.  That  I  have  my  preferences  I  will  not 
deny,  but  there  is  no  necessity  why  I  should  put  them  down 
in  writing  unless  my  subject  would  be  helped  thereby,  and 
I  cannot  see  that  it  would.  I  would  have  included  other 
examples  had  it  been  possible,  but  the  pages  were  filled 
and  I  had  to  stop,  not  because  I  was  wholly  satisfied 
with  all  that  are  here,  but  because  in  this  practical  world 
you  have  to  do  your  "  best  at  a  venture,"  and  not  wait  for 
perfection. 

The  Arts  and  Crafts  Exhibitions  ought  to  mark  progress, 
and  should  be  thoroughly  representative  of  all  the  virile 
work  of  the  day.  They  have  done  immense  good,  because 
these  shows  educate  the  public  and  make  them  interested  in 
craftsmanship.  One  solicitor  friend  when  he  came  to  fur- 
nish his  house,  tried,  as  far  as  was  possible,  to  have  things 
made  for  him.  He  desired  to  be  brought  into  contact  witli 
the  worker  instead  of  going  to  some  big  emporium.  Think 
how  iiuu  h  more  valuable,  because  of  their  personality,  our 
surroundings  would  be  to  us  if  they  vividly  brought  before 
us  the  egos  of  so  many  workers  instead  of  No.  So-and-so  in 
the    pages  of  a  store  catalogue!      Human    association,  I 


238  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

take  it,  is  what  makes  everything  in  this  world  interesting 
to  man,  seeing  that  man  is  his  chiefest  study,  and  therefore 
what  man  produces  has  some  likeness  of  himself  in  it. 
Those  who  are  in  the  fortunate  position  of  being  able  to 
spend  money  on  the  furnishing  of  their  houses  should  look 
upon  it  as  a  privilege  which  their  wealth  gives  them  of  being 
able  to  seek  out  cunning  workers  to  supply  them  with  their 
necessities,  and  so  build  up  an  environment  which  "use 
cannot  wither  nor  custom  stale."  I  have  said  elsewhere, 
and  I  repeat  here,  that  great  responsibility  rests  with  the 
patron,  for  he  can  greatly  help  the  worker  by  discriminating 
praise  and  patronage.  I  believe  Ruskin  says  somewhere 
that  there  is  more  genius  in  spending  money  wisely  than  in 
getting  it. 

The  craftsman  must  be  practical,  and  not  drive  patronage 
from  him  either  by  his  obstinacy  in  refusing  to  heed  the 
wishes  of  his  client,  or  by  being  regardless  of  his  pocket. 
Possible  patrons  are  frightened  off  by  the  idea  that  work  is 
going  to  be  so  much  more  costly  if  he  search  out  for  a 
worker  himself  than  if  he  go  to  a  shop  for  the  article.  The 
craftsman  must  fix  no  false  standard  of  price,  but  be  pre- 
pared to  do  a  fair  day's  work  for  a  fair  day's  pay.  He 
must  not  think  of,  here  and  there,  the  artist  raking  in  his 
thousands  a  year  by  painting  commonplace  people  in  a 
commonplace  way,  but  of  the  rank  and  file,  the  average 
worker's  guerdon.  Were  he  a  clerk  he  could  tell  by  the 
law  of  average  what  his  income  is  likely  to  be.  Why, 
therefore,  because  he  is  a  craftsman,  should  he  not  be  pre- 
pared to  strike  an  average  and  go  in  for  the  "  living  wage"  ? 
There  is  a  "joy  in  the  working  "  which  transcends  all  other 
payment;  and   so   long  as  one  can  enjoy  such  comfort  as 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND   HIS   OUTLOOK.  239 

is  necessary  to  do  one's  work   in,  little  more   should   be 
expected. 

There  is  a  great  field  before  the  worker  in  the  crafts  now, 
and  if  he  will  only  gather  his  harvest  in  the  right  way  he 
will  not  have  to  remain  idle  ;  but  he  must  not  look  upon 
himself  as  a  specially  gifted  individual  upon  whom  wealth 
ought  to  be  showered,  but  as  an  art  worker  who,  in  return 
for  being  allowed  to  live  in  reasonable  comfort,  such  as  the 
society  around  him  enjoys,  is  prepared  to  give  the  world  of 
his  best,  and  so  make  his  work  a  joy  to  himself  and  to  his 
patrons.  To  use  Ibsen's  luminous  phrase :  "  He  must 
bring  himself  into  harmony  with  the  attainable." 

When  Keats  wrote  "  Beauty  is  truth,  truth  beauty,"  he 
was  probably  thinking  of  some  Grecian  urn  or  other  beau- 
tiful product  of  man's  skill,  and  he  felt  that  beauty  in  work 
is  the  result  of  love  and  reverence — trudi,  as  he  termed  it. 
It  comes  of  a  belief  in  ourselves  which  makes  us  put  our- 
selves vehemently  into  what  we  do.  This  gives  work 
strength.  We  must  labour  patiently,  diligently,  lovingly, 
and  to  do  this  implies  reverence.  We  do  not  love  a  liar 
or  a  deceitful  person,  and  we  cannot  reverence  work  that 
is  a  pretence.  If  we  expand  what  Keats  meant  by  truth 
we  see  that  it  can  be  split  into  love  and  reverence,  and 
still  further  subdivided  were  we  on  a  metaphysical  quest. 
Plato  expands  goodness  into  beauty,  symmetry,  and 
tnilh. 

Beauty  is  truth.  Ikauty  being  a  moral  quality,  we  can 
understand  that  untruthfulness  is  opposed  to  it.  We  cannot 
love  a  person  who  lies  to  us.  Ho  has  lost  moral  beauty. 
Why  a  tradesman's  wares  are  wanting  ia  beauty  is  that  we 
see  no  love  in  their  |)ro(lu<tion,  "  no  tricks  of  the  tools'  true 


240  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

play,"  no  striving  of  a  soul  for  utterance,  but  so  much 
weight  of  work  for  so  much  weight  of  money.  They  are 
too  largely  a  sham,  an  affectation  and  pretence,  wanting  in 
truth  and  therefore  in  beauty.  But  even  "  the  firm  "  is  forced 
by  the  growing  interest  taken  in  craftsmanship  to  move  on  ; 
so  now  we  have  "  art  fabrics,"  "  art  papers,"  "  art  furniture." 
The  aesthetes  were  laughed  at  in  "  Punch  "  some  years  ago: 
now  we  see  that  it  is  to  a  tradesman's  advantage  to  tack 
"Art  "  on  to  his  business.  We  have  moved  on  a  good  deal 
these  last  twelve  years,  and  we  ought  to  make  still  more 
progress  if  our  craftsmen  are  true  to  themselves  and  avoid 
"  fashion," — the  pandering  to  a  mere  whim. 

All  artists,  whatever  be  the  medium  in  which  they  work, 
experience  disappointment  at  the  outset,  and  invariably 
have  their  efforts  refused  all  round.  It  is  the  experience  of 
most  of  the  7iow  successful  writers,  and  so  it  is  of  craftsmen 
when  passing  from  the  state  of  pupilage  into  that  of 
workers.  Always  have  a  clear  outlook  on  life,  and  there- 
fore 1  put  these  warnings  here,  so  that  the  student  may, 
like  a  good  mariner  in  stormy  weather,  keep  a  sharp  look- 
out. 1  remember  when  I  started  working  on  my  own 
account  how  I  would  go  out  in  the  morning  with  my  wares 
(whatever  they  happened  to  be)  under  my  arm,  filled  with 
an  ambition  quite  high  enough  to  overleap  itself,  apart  from 
the  value,  or  the  want  of  it,  of  my  wares.  Not  only  was 
everything  possible,  but  probable  too  !  A  few  hours  among 
the  firms  I  offered  the  output  of  my  brains  to  sent  me  back 
dejected  and  disheartened.  I  went  out  an  optimist;  I 
returned  a  pessimist :  for  a  while  the  sun  had  set  in  the 
heavens.  But  that  utterly  cast-down  attitude  passes  away, 
and  you  return  to  the  fight  with  more  staying  power  each 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  HIS   OUTLOOK.  241 

time  y)u   receive   a   repulse.     How  cheered  I   was  when 
I  read  for  the  first  time  those  noble  lines  of  Browning  : 

"  Never  one  who  turned  his  back  but  marched  breast  forward, 
Never  doubted  clouds  would  break  ; 
Never  dreamed  though  right  were  worsted,  wrong  would  triumph. 
Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  harder, 
Sleep  to  wake." 

After  a  time,  if  you  don't  "  welcome  each  rebuff,"  you  are 
not  surprised  at  receiving  them,  because  you  are  on  the 
look  out  for  failure  and  are  prepared  to  have  your  work 
returned  on  your  hands.  When  it  does  find  a  home,  then  is 
the  moment  supreme.  To  feel  that  you  have  the  privilege 
of  speaking  your  mind  to  the  world — for  you  can  do  that  \\\ 
a  wall-paper  or  a  finger-plate  as  much  as  in  a  story — is  a 
privilege  worth  going  through  a  good  deal  to  obtain. 

Have  an  infinite  belief  in  possibility,  but  be  prepared  for 
failure,  for  it  must  come  to  every  one  some  time  or  other. 
As  Cromwell  is  reported  to  have  said,  "  Trust  in  God,  but 
keep  your  powder  dry." 

Many  an  earnest  worker,  in  the  solitude  of  his  atelier, 
grows  dismayed  at  times  because  he  does  not  "get  on,"  and 
sees  charlatanism  preferred  to  honesty.  The  short  cut  to 
success  (whether  you  mean  artistic  or  mercantile)  doesn't 
pay.  Truth  must  be  the  foundation  upon  which  a  crafts- 
man has  to  build.  He  must  work  out  all  that  is  in  him, 
and,  so  far  as  the  exigencies  of  life  will  allow,  be  faithful  to 
his  highest  aspirations,  for  his  "  reach  will  always  exceed 
his  grasp"  under  the  most  favourable  conditions.  He  nnut 
go  on  working  quietly,  doing  what  comes  to  him  with  the 
utmost  of  his  power,  leaving  the  future  to  take  care  of  itselt. 
for  happily   it   is   hidden  from   him.     I  wish   such   simple 

R 


242  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

counsel  had  been  put  before  me  at  the  outset  of  my  career. 
It  would  have  saved  me  much  loss  of  tune  later  on.  Good 
work  tells  in  the  long  run,  quicker  than  the  beginner  is  apt 
to  imagine.  Keats,  when  he  said  a  thing  of  beauty  is  a  joy 
for  ever,  might  have  also  said  that  there  is  always  one  eye 
at  least  on  the  look  out  for  it ;  and  therefore  to  throw 
yourself  fully  into  a'l  you  do  is  the  surest  way  to  reach,  what 
every  worker  requires,  recognition.  You  are  apt  to  think 
that  your  voice  is  drowned  by  the  noise  of  the  crowd,  and 
that  to  make  yourself  heard  you  must  mount  the  tub  and 
thump  the  drum.  Is  it  not  the  still  small  voice  that 
governs  our  actions  potent  before  all  else  ? 

I  don't  wish  this  to  be  a  "  counsel  of  perfection,"  but  the 
experience  of  a  worker  after  twenty  years  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  those  who  are  coming  after. 

There  are  no  divine  tips  the  knowledge  of  which  will 
enable  you  to  push  ahead  quickly,  and  those  who  profess 
to  have  discovered  them  you  may  take  for  charlatans.  Art 
admits  of  no  rules  :  it  refuses  to  be  circumscribed  by  such 
arbitrary  bonds.  Bacon  said  truly  art  is  accomplished  by  a 
happy  felicity  and  not  by  rule,  and  ihe  so-called  canons  of 
art  are  not  to  be  found  except  by  pedants  on  the  prowl. 

Knowledge  is  gained  by  observation  and  reflection,  and 
each  worker  has  to  make  his  own  rules.  I  remember  how, 
years  ago,  Avhen  I  consulted  what  were  considered  the  text- 
books on  design,  how  entirely  I  was  led  away  from  the 
proper  study  by  their  aphorisms  and  canons  and  principles. 
These  guides  obscured  one's  sight  and  took  one  off  terra 
firma,  to  leave  one  floating  in  nebulosity  as  unsatisfactory  as 
it  was  unsubstantial.  The  amount  of  time,  too,  one  wastes 
in  studying  the  art  of  various  epochs  and  peoples !     Theory 


THE-  CRAFTSMAN  AND  HIS'  OUTLOOK'.  243 

is  developed  out  of  practice,  and  should  not  be  thrust  so 
entirely  to  the  front  as  has  been  the  case,  any  more  than  is 
grammar  in  the  modern  method  of  teaching  a  foreign 
language.'  •       ■ 

And  remember,  too,  that  all  these  aids  are  only  means, 
not  the  end.  In  all  questions  relating  to  aesthetics  much 
must  escape  analysis.  The  true  artist,  as  Ruskin  has  re- 
minded us,  knows  less  about  method  than  anyone  ;  how  he 
does  it  is  a  matter  he  has  never  inquired  into,  and  when 
Reynolds  did  inquire  into  it  he  got  no  further  (if  as  far) 
than  the  most  mediocre  dauber  might  have  done.  Still, 
what  is  called  "  shop,"  the  comjiaring  of  notes  among 
workers,  is  useful  as  it  is  pleasant;  only  one  must  not  take 
the  further  step  which  leads  to  making  what  are  pious 
opinions  or  views  absolute;  fixed  beliefs  necessary  to  artistic 
salvation.  1  have  endeavoured  to  avoid  dogmatism  in  this 
work,  and  I  can  only  hope  I  have  succeeded. 

You  must  always  remember,  too,  that  in  all  your  studies, 
whether  from  life  or  wliat  other  masters  have  done,  it  is 
left  to  you  to  show  u-;  what  jw/  can  do  ;  and  what  the  world 
demands  of  you  is  that  you  put  yourself  wholly  into  all  you 
do.  Could  the  contemplation  of  the  work  around  us, 
whether  new  or  old,  the  studying  of  so-called  text-books, 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  "principles"  they  are  supposed 
to  inculcate  make  artists  of  us,  how  many  masters  there  would 
be  !  But  all  these  aids  are  only  of  use  to  the  student  who 
has  an  artistic  ego,  for  when  you  come  to  make  an  original 
effort  the  mind  has  to  be  cleared  of  these  principles  before 
it  begins  to  work.  In  writing,  for  instance,  one  would 
never  get  a  sentence  down  if  one  had  nothing  but  grammar 
and  syntax  before  one's  e\  es. 


244  THE    TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

In  all  really  good  work  there  is  a  quality  which  is 
personal  to  the  author  and  which  cannot  be  reduced  to  a 
principle,  for  it  escapes  analysis  ;  just  as  in  mediocre  work 
it  is  the  absence  of  '•  t/uf,'^  as  some  one  termed  the  quality 
which  makes  a  work  live.  One  only  learns  by  the  practice 
of  one's  calling,  and  those  moments  of  inspiration  when 
one  is  lifted  up  quite  above  one's  ordinary  level  for  the 
while  to  soar  in  the  empyrean,  come  oftenest  to  him  who 
gives  the  strictest  attention  to  his  business.  Don't  wait  for 
these  moments  ;  work  on  in  all  sincerity  and  they  will  visit 
you  like  angels  unawares. 

The  one  idea  I  have  strenuously  brought  forward  in  this 
work  is  the  necessity  for  originality.  All  art  work  seems  to 
me  an  excuse  for  the  expression  of  your  ego,  and  this  is 
developed  by  the  practice  of  your  calling.  The  student 
may  be  conscious  that  he  lacks  ideas  and  doesn't  feel  that 
he  has  much  to  say,  but  before  that  question  can  be  de- 
cided I  would  remind  him  that  ideas  develop  as  one  obtains 
a  firmer  grip  over  one's  work.  I  have  found  in  my  own 
experience  that  you  may  start  with  a  meagre  idea,  and  in 
pursuing  it  other  ideas  are  evolved,  often  of  more  worth 
than  tlie  initiatory  one.  No  man  can  gauge  his  capacity  ; 
it  is  an  unknown  quantity.  Some  great  men  have  been 
dunces,  apparently,  at  school,  but  this  was  only  apparent, 
simply  because  they  had  not  then  been  caught  up  into  tl:e 
frenzy  of  the  work  that  was  to  make  them  famous.  Those 
who  score  in  schools,  whether  of  art  or  otherwise,  and  gain 
prizes  and  medals,  are  not  always  those  who  go  from 
strength  to  strength.  Many  plants  will  flower  pro.usely 
and  yet  not  fruit  well. 

Dj   not   easily  be  discouraged.     There  are  many   difh-. 


THE    CRAFTSMAN  AXD   HIS   OUTLOOK. 


MS 


culties  to  be  surmounted,  however  lowly  your  aims  may  be, 
but  the  artist  lives,  I  take  it,  to  triumph  over  material.  It 
is  what  the  world  enjoys  in  all  artistic  productions — man's 
power  to  shape  his  thoughts  by  compelling  the  material, 
whatever  it  be  he  works  in,  to  obey  ;  as  Abt  Vogler  said 
of  his  art,  "  bidding  my  organ  obey,  calling  the  keys  to 
their  work,"  and  to  quote  again  from  this  stimulating  poem 
of  Browning's  : 

"And  God  has  a  few  of  us  whom  He  wliispers  in  the  ear  : 
The  rest  may  reason  and  welcome,  'tis  we  musicians  know." 


Fig.  lOi.-. Silver  Tanels  in  l.uw  Relid.     J'.y  deo.  iMamplon,  A.R.A. 


?4f)  "  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 


Schools  of  Aut  and  Places  of  Tun  ion. 

/  The  schools  of  art  in  the  various  important  towns, 
drawing  their  inspiration  from  the  central  institution  at 
South  Kensington,  are  the  most  accessible  places  through- 
out the  country  where  some  sort  of  att  tuition  may  be 
obtained.  "  The  South  Kensington  System "  has  been 
severely  criticised  and  largely  condemned  by  some  writers 
for  its  inefficiency  and  the  misdirection  of  the  stucknt,  and 
has  been  charged  with  being  a  deadening  influence,  owing 
to  a  hard-and-fast  administiation  of  a  cast-iron  system. 
Such  a  criticism  as  this  last  is  true  to  a  great  e.xtcnt  of  all 
systems.  We  must  remember  that  the  South  Kensington 
system  was  a  creation  in  the  first  instance,  a  laudable 
attempt  to  give  some  art  training  to  our  oiivricrs.  A  S(  hool 
of  art,  in  any  true  sense,  is  a  growth  staiting  from  a  strong 
central  individuality,  attracting  the  more  imitative  natures 
around  it  to  carry  on  the  influences  emanating  from  the 
initiatory  mind.  South  Kensington  was  to  art  very  much 
what  a  paper  constitution  is  to  a  people,  and  it  is  not  until 
l)0th  have  been  well  buffeted  about  and  almost  pulled  to 
];ieces  that  the  good  in  them  is  apjiarent.  South  Ken- 
sington, as  a  late  national  scholar  told  me,  has  never 
professed  to  icach  design,  only  to  give  Iraihing  in  drawing. 
What  it  has  done  to  encourage  art  as  applied  to  manufac- 
tures is  to  offer  prizes  for  designs  of  various  works,  such  as 
metal  and  wall-papers,  and  in  these  pages  will  be  foimd  a 
{^w  reproductions  of  some  of  thtse  priz^  designs.  Whnt 
the  severest  critic  can  truthfully  say  is,  that  either  from 
without  or  within  South  Kensington  has  ad\anccd  with  the 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  HIS  OUTLOOK.  247 

times,  and,  looking  back  as  I  can  upon  what  it  was  twenty- 
three  years  ago,  I  can  mark  the  advance  made  all  round. 
The  earnest  student  rises  superior  to  the  most  adverse 
conditions ;  for  the  lazy  scholar  may  gain  no  benefit  from  a 
good  school,  while  the  worker,  while  he  will  gain  enor- 
mously by  good  tuition,  will  not  be  utterly  thwarted  by 
inefficient  or  bad.  The  fact  that  the  later  judges  at  these 
annual  competitions  have  been  men  from  without,  of  the 
standing  of  the  late  William  Morris,  is  positive  evidence 
that  South  Kensington  has  moved  on. 

One  grows  tolerant  with  time,  and  I,  who  ten  years  ago 
would  have  been  a  wholly  adverse  critic  of  Scuth  Ken- 
sington and  its  ways,  am  conscious  that  it  is  easier  to  con- 
demn an  institution  trying  to  do  something  to  leaven  the 
lump  of  solid  ignorance  than  to  set  up  anything  better  to 
take  its  place ;  and  I  would  therefore  do  what  little  lays  in 
my  power  to  make  it  a  more  potent  influence  for  good  than 
it  is  than  advocate  the  root-and-branch  cure. 

Some  of  the  large  towns  have  developed  excellent  schools, 
and  I  can  point  to  no  more  flourishing  one  than  that  at 
ISinningham,  where  most  excellent  work  is  turned  out.  A 
desire  to  get  clean  away  from  the  art  of  the  manufacturer  is 
the  healthiest  sign  about  this  Birmingham  guild  of  handi- 
craft. 

"The  Central  School  of  Arts  and  Crafts"  founded  by 
the  London  County  Council  has  its  ateliers  at  316, 
Regent  Street,  opposite  the  old  Polytechnic.  The  Directors 
are  George  Frampton,  yV.R.A  ,  and  W.  R.  Lethaby.  A 
staff  of  teachers  in  the  various  crafts  is  engaged  ;  among 
them  I  may  mention  Mr.  Christopher  ^Vhall  for  stained 
glass,  and    Mr.  Alexander   Fisher  for  enamelling.     This  is 


248  THE   TRAINING   OF  A    CRAFTSMAN. 

quite  a  new  institution,  and  I  can  do  no  more  than  call 
attention  to  it. 

At  the  old  West  London  School  of  Art,  in  Great  Titchfield 
Street,  technical  classes  are  held  in  wood  carving,  brick  and 
stone  carving,  and  other  subjects,  under  the  patronage  of  the 
Carpenters'  Company. 

The  School  of  Art  Wood-Carving  has'shif:ed  from  the 
Albert  Hall  to  the  Central  Technical  College,  Exhibition 
Road,  South  Kensington.  Instruction  is  given  to  both 
professional  and  amateur  students. 

The  City  and  Guilds  South  London  Art  Schools  are  at 
122  and  124,  Kennington  Park  Road,  S. E.,  and  also  at 
Finsbur\'.  Technical  instruction  under  various  masters  in 
the  art  crafts  is  given,  as  well  as  in  drawing  and  modelling. 

At  several  of  the  schools  of  art  special  attention  is  given 
to  certain  of  the  art  crafts.  At  Lambeth,  for  instance, 
many  of  Messrs.  Doulton's  pottery  painters  were,  I  know, 
at  one  time  drawn  from  the  local  school  of  art.  At 
Chiswick,  again,  the  art  crafts  receive  much  attention. 
Mr.  Catterson  Smith  told  me  that  he  received  his  pre- 
liminary training  in  metal  work  there. 

At  Es-ex  House,  Mile  End  Road,  Mr.  Ashbee  organizes 
classes  through  the  winter  in  woodwork  and  metal  ham- 
mering. 

'1  he  Royal  School  of  Art  Needlework  is  in  Exhibition 
Road,  South  Kensington.  Instruction  can  be  obtained  by 
female  students  for  certain  fees. 

The  Royal  Female  School  of  Art,  43,  Queen's  Square, 
Bloomsbury.  The  training  here  is  on  similar  lines  to  that 
at  South  Kensington,  but  I  believe  special  attention  is  paid 


THE   CRAFTSMAN  AND  HIS    OUTLOOK.  249 

to  obtaining  an  outlet  for  the  workers  ;  chromolithography, 
I  believe,  being  a  speciality  with  them. 

The  Art  Workers'  Guild  hoKls  its  meetings  in  the  hall  at 
Clifford's  Inn,  E.G.  Papers  are  read  on  pertinent  subjects 
by  various  members,  and  a  discussion  follows.  Member- 
ship is  obtained  by  nomination  and  election,  but  the  appli- 
cant must  be  a  bona-fide  worker,  though  he  may  be  a 
painter  or  a  craftsman  or  sculptor. 

The  triennial  exhibitions  of  the  Arts  and  Grafts  Society 
have  hitherto  been  held  at  the  New  Gallery  in  the  autumn. 
This  society  is  not  connected  with  the  guild,  but  many 
members  belong  to  both.  It  is  a  most  interesting  resume 
of  the  work  of  each  three  years,  and  these  shows  have 
done  much  to  stimulate  public  interest  in  craftsmanship. 

The  Home  Arts  and  Industries  Association,  for  the 
revival  and  encouragement  of  the  art  crafts  in  villages, 
hold  their  annual  exhibition  of  such  of  the  work  executed 
during  the  past  year  each  summer  at  the  Albert  Hall. 
This  is  another  show  that  "  marks  time,"  and  very  encou- 
raging have  the  results  been  so  far. 

The  Glergy  and  Artists'  Association,  6,  Victoria  Tower 
Ghambers,  Westminster,  has  recently  been  founded  by  a 
few  well-known  art-workeis,  and  at  their  rooms  may  be 
seen  photographs  as  well  as  specimens  of  work  specially 
relating  to  church  decoration. 

Fuller  information  can  be  obtained  in  '"The  Year's  Art." 


I'K1,\11-.L»   bV   J.    S.    VlKlUi;    AND   CO.,    I.I.MIlliU,   CIIY    KO.VIi,    LONDON. 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


